The following statements provide an overview of school nurse practice (NASN 2022):

Why: Explicitly centered around the student. School nurses support the health, well-being, and the ultimate education success and life-long achievement of all students as described in the social contract of nursing including those who are well and those with chronic and acute health problems. School nurses intervene via tiered prevention efforts to keep the entire school population and the larger community healthy. They intervene to promote healthy school environments, incorporate health in all school policies, work to remove barriers for optimal health and learning, and work upstream for system level changes that address social determinants of health (SDOH). School nursing ethics underpin the why of school nursing practice.

Who: School nursing addresses the characteristics of professional school nurses that includes the education, licensure, and credentialing of professional school nurses. It also includes measures of professional competence and statistics about school nurses. Members of the school nursing specialty include registered professional nurses (RNs) and graduate-level prepared registered nurses who have been educated, credentialed, and maintain active licensure to practice.

How: Described by the art and science of nursing, the nursing process, and the NASN framework.

Where: Includes settings within schools that extend beyond a physical building, such as the school community, off-campus school trips, athletic events, and home visits. Also, special circumstances may necessitate the use of virtual platforms to provide nursing care. School nurses may be employed in an advisory, executive, or managerial capacity by Boards of Education, public health agencies, healthcare institutions, and state health and education departments.

When: Generally occurs during regularly scheduled school hours. It also includes extended coverage locations, such as boarding/residential schools, therapeutic settings, detention centers, and when enrolled students' educational needs are being accommodated at home. The school nurse may also be asked to be "on call" or provide nursing services during times when the students are participating in off-campus field trips or work experiences. During periods of epidemic, pandemic, natural or community disasters, school nurses may be called upon as content experts to provide health leadership that extends beyond the regularly scheduled work hours.

What: Delineates the specialty and translates it into the roles that school nurses fill. School nursing is a specialty practice of professional nursing that, in collaboration with families, school personnel, community members, and other healthcare providers, is responsible for the health and well-being of school students and the broader school community, generally in the pre-kindergarten to grade 12 setting, and may include students with disabilities through age 21. The scope and role of school nursing is unique and varied and includes clinician, advocate, case manager, health educator, health counselor, researcher, liaison and interprofessional team member; sentinel for individual and student population health, state school nurse consultant, and others.

Reference:
National Association of School Nursing. (2022). School nursing: Scope and standards of practice, 4th edition, pages 15-16.