Back-to-School Tips & Tools

Back to School Toolkit

Back-to-School Tips & Tools

Introduction

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!

Whether you are seasoned school nurse or in your first year on the job, NASN’s back-to-school tips & tools highlight the resources you need to promote the well-being of students and help them develop lifelong habits that support optimal health and wellness.

These tips & tools will help you, working closely with school staff, students, and administration, to develop a healthy environment where students can thrive. We know it has been a difficult several years for school nurses. We offer these resources, and our support as an organization, to help you and your students be healthy, safe and ready to learn, in the coming year.

Guiding Principles

Guiding Principles

NASN’s School Nursing Practice Framework™ illustrates key principles of professional practice and brings focus to priority school nursing activities. Our back-to-school checklist for school nurses provides practical application. The School Nursing Scope and Standards, 4th edition is the authoritative statement of duties school nurses should competently perform.
Advocacy

Advocacy

School nurses are called upon to advocate frequently for their role and for the health and wellbeing of their students and staff. NASN advocacy tools support school nurses in telling their story.  NASN's legislative priorities and outreach, School Nurse Day initiative and Virtual Hill Days initiative have additional advocacy resources. Claim Your School and help advance NASN’s advocacy efforts.
Community

Community

School nurses often work independently—NASN’s SchoolNurseNet inserts you into an instant community of school nurses across the country and around the globe to share information, resources, camaraderie and support. The All Member Forum is a general conversation among school nurses. Topic-specific communities offer more targeted communication.
Data

Data

The National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts! provides a pathway for every school nurse to participate in creating a robust national school health data set. Our School Nurse Workforce infographics help you paint a realistic picture of school nursing practice.
E-Learning

E-Learning

NASN’s Learning Center is a powerful and interactive learning management system that provides access to online educational activities, toolkits, podcasts, and more. The system is designed to allow you to track and manage your learning journey on an individual basis. Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD) courses under 3 hours are free for NASN members.
Evidence Based Guidelines

Evidence-Based Guidance

NASN’S School Nurse Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines provide uniform clinical guidance and recommendations for quality care. Our Professional Practice Documents reflect the policies and positions of NASN related to child health and professional practice issues. NASN’s peer-reviewed journals give access to practice guidance and evidence.
Toolkits

Toolkits

Each comprehensive implementation toolkit is tightly focused on a particular topic and complete with evidence-based resources including sample policies, checklists, and model protocols. These resources will help you quickly systematically address key areas of school nursing practice.

Checklists and Calendars

NASN’s website is full of resources and tools; here are short-cuts to a few that will get you and your school health room up and running this year.

Fact Sheet: When is sick too sick for school?

Fact Sheet - When is sick too sick for school?

Consensus Statement

Elevating the Role of School Nurses in School-based Behavioral and Mental Health

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