printable version
For Immediate Release
January 8, 2024
Contact: Kate McDuffie
National Association of School Nurses
kmcduffie@nasn.org
NASN Announces New Project Capturing Outcomes for Students with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust
SILVER SPRING, MD— The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) is proud to announce a new school nurse-led pilot project, "Providing Coordinated Care and Capturing Outcomes for Students with T1D." Created through the generous financial support of The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the project will:
- Create a comprehensive, evidence-based school nurse T1D curriculum and a model for integrating state-specific considerations at a local level
- Identify the impact of T1D on student health and academic outcomes through active surveillance and collection of standardized data points related to student health and academic outcomes
- Increase school nurse capacity to provide evidence-based interventions and data collection for students with T1D
T1D is one of the most common chronic childhood conditions. It is an autoimmune disorder that destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, thus requiring daily administration of exogenous insulin to survive, even though insulin is also a drug that can be deadly if improperly dosed. There is currently no cure for T1D. For the 304,000 people under the age of 20 in the U.S. living with T1D, their condition and symptoms must be managed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For students with T1D, that means coordination and collaboration among members of the school health team, the student's family, and the student's personal health care team.
While T1D is one of the most common chronic diseases in school-age children, effective diabetes management in schools varies by state and school. Factors impacting diabetes management in schools include the consistent implementation of evidence-based practices by school nurses (SNs) within the context of state regulations and legislation; SN confidence and competence in providing and supervising diabetes care; SN involvement in educational plan development (e.g., Individualized Education Programs, Section 504 plans); and identifying, collecting, monitoring, and reporting data related to health and academic outcomes of students with T1D that are the result of effective diabetes management.
Through this project, NASN will leverage its experience, providing professional development and technical assistance to SNs, including its School Nursing Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines: Student with Type 1 Diabetes, and its data collection resource, National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts!
"Collecting accurate school health data is a cornerstone to advancing student health, academic outcomes, and school nursing practice," said Terri Hinkley, EdD, MBA, BScN, RN, CAE, chief executive officer of NASN. "Developing an evidence-base that demonstrates the impact of specific interventions for managing care is critical to ensuring that students with T1D have access to supports and care that lead to better health and education outcomes, thus improving the health and well-being of our school communities." "We know that people with T1D need better coordination of care between providers, and for children with T1D, this includes school nurses," said Laurel Koester, Program Officer at the Helmsley Charitable Trust. "This program is an important step toward improving care for children with T1D and their communities."
##
NASN
The National Association of School Nurses is a non-profit specialty nursing organization, organized in 1968 and incorporated in 1977, representing school nurses exclusively. NASN has more than 19,000 members and 50 affiliates, including the District of Columbia and overseas school nurses. The mission of the NASN is to optimize student health and learning by advancing the practice of school nursing. To learn more about NASN, please visit www.nasn.org or call 866-627-6767.
About The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting exceptional efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select place-based initiatives. Since beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has committed more than $4 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes. The Helmsley Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Program is the largest private foundation funder in the world with a focus on T1D, with more than $1 billion to date committed to transform the trajectory of the disease and to accelerate access to 21st century care, everywhere. For more information on Helmsley and its programs, visit helmsleytrust.org.
#PressRelease