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Hillsborough Needs To Address School Nurses' Warnings - Stat

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

The days of school nurses tending to runny noses, head lice and the occasional case of chicken pox are long gone.

Students now come to school with life-threatening diabetes, asthma, allergies and other serious illnesses. Some need special care with feeding tubes or other complicated medical devices.

So it's critical Hillsborough County Schools promptly shore up its inadequate health services section.

The district is short on nurses and is relying heavily on barely trained health assistants. This compromises students' safety.

Since August 2006, 68 nurses and health assistants have quit the district, Tribune reporter Marilyn Brown has documented in a series of stories. That's an alarming 21 percent of the district's health care work force - in only 14 months.

One nurse who resigned after seven years in the district wrote about having to quit a job she loved because she refused to be 'bullied into practicing outside my standard of care and nurse ethics.'

The nurse, Angelina Mills, who had worked at Brandon High School, questioned why the district said nothing as it lost crucial federal funding for school nurses and let its health care ranks dwindle. She and Hillsborough residents, especially parents, deserve an answer.

The district now plans to hire more nurses and health assistants by mid-October, but it was disappointing that Superintendent MaryEllen Elia would dismiss nurses' understaffing concerns as overblown.

School board members, to their credit, are moving toward creating a workgroup of nurses to help develop solutions.

But, as school board member Jennifer Faliero bluntly pointed out, the district too often seems to lack common sense when it comes to health services.

For instance, the district's policies block students from having easy access to over-the-counter medicines such as cough drops and pain relievers.

The student handbook prohibits bringing such medicines to school, although there is no law banning children from having over-the-counter medicines. Caution is needed for substances that can be abused, such as cough syrups and cold medicines. But coming up with a policy that would allow older students to take mild medications should be possible.

Even board member April Griffin admits she allows her teenage son to secretly take sinus pain medicine at school. It's ridiculous parents have to violate the policy or drive to the school to administer some minor medication.

Health professionals working in local schools are frustrated and overwhelmed - and in this market they have options of going elsewhere.

The result? There may be no capable health care professional on hand when a student is injured or suffers a serious ailment.

Parents and health professionals have every right to be concerned. The situation requires immediate remedy.

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