The Importance of School Nurses in Students’ Mental Health

EHR, School nursing

  The Importance of School Nurses in Students’ Mental Health  Mental health is an issue in today’s fast-paced environment, and it affects children as well as adults. Many of the key institutions of America such as (ACMH) have released a study that reveals that 1 in 5 children in America shows symptoms of diagnosable behavioral, emotional and mental health disorders. School nurses work with healthcare experts, community healthcare professionals, students, and families to identify children with mental illnesses and create a better healthcare system for those who require behavioral health services.   They are ideally suited and capable of identifying students with potential behavioral health difficulties due to their direct access to pupils. School nurses serve as advocates, facilitators, and counselors for behavioral health services both in and out of the school.  Let’s explore a little deeper by reading more about this topic.  How does it all start?  The first few minor symptoms of student mental problems are refusal to attend school as well as difficulty studying and concentrating in class. Children exhibit disruptive behavior, eating and sleeping issues. While some of these symptoms are temporary, moderate, or mild, others cause significant discomfort, confusion, and loss of control that becomes unmanageable.   Poor academic performance, a lack of enthusiasm for school, a loss of enthusiasm in homework, or poor interactions with peers or teachers can all be indicators of what the child is going through at school.  What are the mental health concerns in students?  Children, like adults, are affected by the same mental health issues and respond differently to them. For instance, when an adult is depressed, he has trouble concentrating and enjoying activities that used to engage him. If a child is going through depression, he/ she may show signs of irritability more than sadness. Behavioral issues often come out as symptoms that are manifested by children who are dealing with mental issues.[/vc_column_text]Children are also more prone to exhibit behavioral abnormalities as a result of mental health problems. For many youngsters, this emerges as behavioral disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).   Some of the behavioral health issues that trouble students are: Anxiety Disorder  Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)  Mood Disorders  Eating Disorders  Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)  Anxiety Disorders:  Anxiety is normal for just any individual, child, or adult. When it hinders the child’s ability to succeed in school or social connections, it may be an indication of something more serious. Some of the most prevalent types in children are obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social phobias.  Autism spectrum disorder:  Another difficult-to-define and understand mental health condition is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is a developmental disorder that influences a child’s speech and behavior. Every kid with ASD is unique, but many have difficulty speaking and connecting with others.  ADHD:  An attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a medical condition that affects a child’s capacity to process his or her own emotions in order to comprehend the needs and feelings of others. The major symptom is trouble concentrating; nevertheless, youngsters typically display impatient and fidgeting behavior, difficulties following directions, and frequent daydreaming.  Mood Disorders and Eating Disorders:  Eating and mood disorders can affect children of all ages and are often caused by stress or trauma. Anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder are all life-threatening eating disorders. Mood problems can lead to suicidal and even violent ideas. What can school nurses do to help? A crucial strategy here for a school nurse is connecting, sustaining, and engaging with parents for implementing and supporting excellent outcomes in students. Assessment and screening for students who have mental health problems is an important part of school nursing practice. School nurses continue to interact with students and their families regularly, helping to build essential and long-lasting bonds.   With strong relationships with parents and other support personnel, school nurses strive to keep parents involved in a range of activities and opportunities by addressing typical challenges and hurdles.  Screening and assessment of mental health issues at school:  Most screening procedures, at most, provide a preliminary sign that something may be wrong. When considering formal diagnosis and prescriptions on how to solve the problem, more valid data from evaluation methods are required. Many mental health problems are identified by nurses when students visit their office or while being screened for other health issues. Such issues are also brought to the nurses’ notice during attendance and discipline reviews, assessments for special education placement, crisis interventions, or when others (staff, parents, students) express worries about a specific child. A nurse’s responsibilities also include teaching educators, classmates, parents, and others how to correctly identify and refer students. What appears to be a learning handicap, or an attention problem may be emotional; behavior problems and hyperactivity can occur as a result of learning challenges. Troubles at school may be the result of problems at home. The initial assessment report will identify the child’s trauma symptoms and causes.  School nurses collaborate with parents and the community.  School nurses can educate parents about mental health and help them treat their children. Nurses use school assessments to ask parents about their children’s health needs and interests, and how they want to take part in the school’s health activities, services, and programs.   They collaborate with school officials to develop policies and procedures to increase parent involvement in school health programs. They also create school health programs that cater to parents’ concerns, such as student wellness seminars.  Schools and nurses educate parents about mental health issues.   School nurses give parent education seminars on depression, suicide prevention, and student resiliency, either on their own or in collaboration with community organizations. They provide information to parents on the same mental health problems that they discuss with students. They provide and promote school-sponsored mental health resources in neighborhood libraries, community centers, and other public places.  How can school nurses keep parents involved?  School nurses can ask parents to participate in school decision-making through parent-teacher associations, school health councils, or other groups. They collaborate with teachers to create family-based education techniques that engage parents in health talks with their children. For example,…

The Advantages of Digitizing School Health Records

covid-19 resources, EHR

  The Advantages of Digitizing School Health Records  Digitalization of documents is becoming more popular. Every business we know is rapidly moving away from paper, as proven by online transactions, grocery stores, doctor’s offices, gas stations, and airlines. The digitization model is also being implemented in schools, as it is gradually replacing the use of paper documents in the school setting for all functions.  Schools in the U.S, from K-12 to higher secondary education collect many types of documents related to student health and medical information. It includes student immunization records, records of allergies, health conditions, regular medications, immunization records.  Such immense volumes of sensitive information are subject to the privacy and lifecycle regulatory authorities of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).  Digitizing school health records can help schools overcome the gap. Not only will it facilitate greater security compliance and privacy requirements than paper documents, but it also provides improved data gathering, control, and auditing access, as well as expedites approved release in an emergency.  Let us look at why schools need to digitize their school documents.  Why Is It Necessary To Digitize School Health Records?  Schools face significant challenges in keeping a record of their student’s data. Thousands of children come through the school system each year. Academic institutions must maintain massive amounts of data that grow year after year. This data includes everything from attendance sheets to exam report cards, academic transcripts, exchanges, and papers linked to student loans, sponsorships, and scholarships.  Paper records administration is resource-intensive and time-consuming, and it frequently relies heavily on the knowledge of a few employees. If a key employee leaves or retires from the service, the entire staff will be in a predicament because they may not know where the specific file is kept. The monthly cost of expensive storage space compounds to that same closed system.  Digital technology is fast becoming the norm in the business world. The digital transformation approach and adaptability are helping all of the world’s major sectors in generating growth and success. Education is one of the world’s major industries, and it is benefiting greatly from digitalization. The use of digital technology has assisted many academic institutions in improving student experiences, promoting data-driven decisions, increasing competitiveness, and optimizing resources.  The covid-19 epidemic is another reason that has necessitated digitalization and digitized teaching in schools. Schools are better equipped and prepared with digitized learning experiences such as online classes, online assessments, eBooks, video conferencing, and, in some situations, virtual reality.   Post-pandemic schools gather much of their data in digital files and are moving forward by decreasing the need for paper to keep records. Benefits of Digitizing School Health Records   Quick Accessibility:   Document digitization allows an institution to access data in digital form from anywhere, breaking down the constraints of geography, time, and simultaneous access. Data accessibility promotes data flow inside the school, resulting in increased productivity.  Cost Cutting:  Document digitalization enables schools to reduce the use of physical records, which consume resources such as space, security personnel, employees, and a decay-free environment. Once the data is digitized, we can optimize these resources to save money.  Information Security:  Because the documents have been digitized, access to digital material is simple to specify. Digital access not only decreases the time required to provide access but also lets you specify the level of accessibility. This improves data security and safeguards against data leaks. It is simple to keep data safe with the right type of cyber security.  Higher Productivity:  Data may be accessed by different departments inside the organization at the same time; but, if the data is not digital, accessing it requires more time and effort.  Data Backup and Restore: Digitized data is easy to store in different spots, improving data security. Data storage in various places provides additional protection against data corruption or loss. Physical papers are more likely to be harmed in natural calamities, but digitized data is safer and easier to copy. Natural disasters are frequently unpredictable, therefore storing them in several, secure locations increase the reliability of your records.  Ecofriendly:   There is no need to print digital data for distribution, and it is also simple to handle. To eliminate excessive printing, an email is all that is required to share the data. This will eventually result in the conservation of natural resources.  Strategic Advantage:  When you have access to digitized data, it is much easier to find records and information instantly. You can perform an analytical diagnosis, which can provide useful information.   Ultimately Digitization Secures and Protects Student Records   “Misplacement, inaccurate filing, and accidental deletion of paper records are all disadvantages of managing paper records.” This problem is instantly solved by digitizing the records. Digital files are safely stored, indexed, and instantly recovered when required. These documents are saved on a third-party cloud platform. There are various levels of access permission, each requiring a security key.  A secure digital student record is only accessible and managed by authorized persons. This safeguards a student’s privacy by preventing anyone who does not have the appropriate authorization from reading the academic records.   More importantly, it safeguards a student’s academic record against unauthorized modification, theft, or destruction. Digital records are resistant to tampering and misuse. Final Thoughts on Digitizing Student Data with EduHealth EHR systems, such as EduHealth, offer advanced functions such as efficient data administration, scanning and aggregating data from physical forms and medical documents, and analyzing student health data. It can help assess health trends such as communicable diseases.  School population health data shared via EduHealth EHR can be used to track vaccine compliance, environmental and chronic health issues, and effective prevention measures. EduHealth also streamlines and simplifies the school nurse’s documentation tasks, making it easy to gather, review, update, and delete data as required by various laws.  The significance of digitizing information in terms of confidentiality, security, privacy, and regulatory compliance cannot be understated. In today’s world, converting your students’ records to digital format is a crucial advancement for tracking, managing, and transferring medical records. Using digital innovation, EduHealth can help your school’s health system in progressing and providing better health care.