The Dominic Murray Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act
A new law as of July 1, 2022. This law requires that schools, students, and parents/guardians have information on sudden cardiac arrest risks, signs, and symptoms. Please note that sudden cardiac arrest in children and youth is rare.
Access the NYSED letter to public schools.
Statement on Legislation Removing Non-Medical Exemption from School Vaccination Requirements (06/14/2019)
On June 13, 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation removing non-medical exemptions from school vaccination requirements for children. The United States is currently experiencing the worst outbreak of measles in more than 25 years, with outbreaks in pockets of New York primarily driving the crisis. As a result of non-medical vaccination exemptions, many communities across New York have unacceptably low rates of vaccination, and those unvaccinated children can often attend school where they may spread the disease to other unvaccinated students, some of whom cannot receive vaccines due to medical conditions. This new law will help protect the public amid this ongoing outbreak.
Read the complete joint statement.
Recent guidance from NYSED regarding the provision of nursing services in school settings
Over the years, NYSASN members have had to answer many questions concerning the provision of professional nursing services in New York’s schools. There has also been a concern as bills were introduced into our NYS legislature which – had they been passed into law – would have permitted unlicensed school personnel to be involved in insulin administration in our schools, or which would have permitted EMTs or LPNs to replace the registered professional school nurse. Complicating this issue is the fact that New York does not have a law that mandates a registered nurse in every school.
While there is no law that explicitly requires a school nurse in every school building in New York State, it is also true that every school building in New York State has a student or students with diverse chronic health conditions – many of which require the services of a professional, licensed school nurse. This is because they are services that either cannot be delegated to non-licensed personnel or those can be delegated – but only under the supervision of a registered, professional school nurse.
So, in reality, in New York State, there is an implicit requirement for a school nurse in every school building – because only a registered professional school nurse can provide certain professional services mandated by both the federal laws (IDEA and Section 504), and other existing NYS laws – with their enabling rules and regulations – such as Article 139, the Nurse Practice Act.
In order to assist our members, we would like to bring the following January 2019 guidance documents from SED to your attention. These memoranda were shared with school leaders throughout New York State and they provide much-needed clarity on the provision of professional nursing services in New York’s schools:
Provision of Nursing Services in School Settings – Including One-to-One Nursing Services to Students with Special Needs
Guidelines for Determining a Student with a Disability’s Need for a 1:1 Nurse
We would also like to remind our members to become regular visitors to the New York State Center for School Health’s website.
School Nursing Practice FAQ’s is a very useful resource pertaining to our professional practice in New York’s schools and ties in very well with the NYSED guidance above.