Role of School Nurses in the Health and Education of Children

The role of school nurses has evolved into being more than just checking children’s temperature. Many nurses have hundreds of children to care for, and current-day media and issues are rising.

Despite often working alone, they (1) provide essential management and supervision of care for students with a chronic condition or disease (eg, diabetes, seizure response, gastrostomy tube feeding); (2) teach health education; (3) screen for and manage depression, anxiety, vision, and hearing disorders; (4) oversee accessibility plans for students with accommodations (eg, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder); and (5) refer students to external health professionals (Dickson et al., 2025).

The article talks about the interesting history of how school nurses came to be in their current position. As stated, the need for this large job role has only increased as demand for aid in other issues arises.

School nursing in the US began in 1902 when Lillian Wald, founder of the Henry Street Settlement appointed Nurse Lina Rogers to address contagious diseases and promote hygiene among students on New York City’s Lower East Side (an area with limited resources at that time). The results of the work of Rogers demonstrated the profound effect of health interventions on education—in 1 year, the number of absent students dropped from 10 000 to just over 1000, a remarkable success that catalyzed school nursing expansion across New York City and throughout the US.¹ Today, more than 120 years later, the presence of a school nurse continues to demonstrate profound improvement in student absenteeism and other outcomes (Dickson et al., 2025).²

Despite the progress made for school nurses, they still face many challenges today. One of the main problems is lack of funding. There isn’t enough awareness of all the school nurses do, and therefore schools may not see it as an important job to the community. Whether it’s low funding for the pay of the job or funding preventing the necessary care tools needed. With the rise of social media, mental health has taken a large toll on children, and school nurses may not be equipped to properly handle this. There is also a rise in violent acts happening at schools that nurses should be able to be prepared for.

The article ends with listing ways that people and communities can support their school nurses. They suggest actions such as general support and advocacy, integrating them as leaders in the broader school system hierarchy, and investing in specialized training and certification. There are many ways to help support school nurses, both small and large, and it all starts with raising awareness.

What stood out to me most was the lack of resources and recognition that many school nurses face despite having such an important role. Nurses are expected to handle increasingly complex physical and mental health concerns, yet they may not have enough funding, equipment, staffing, or specialized training to properly address every situation. I also found it interesting that the article connects the work of school nurses to student outcomes, showing that their presence can have an impact beyond healthcare alone. Overall, this reading made me appreciate how essential school nurses are to schools and how important it is for communities to recognize and support the work they do.

Reference

Dickson, E., Cogan, R., & Gonzalez-Guarda, R. M. (2025). Role of school nurses in the health and education of children. JAMA Health Forum, 6(1), e250116. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.0116