TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Pressure Increasing On School Nurses

ADVERTISEMENT

By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - School clinics are still the place to go when a student has a scraped knee or ant bite, but nurses and health assistants in Pasco County schools also deal with much more serious health problems.

Nearly 13,000 students in Pasco County schools have a chronic health condition that requires regular medication, monitoring or care, according to the annual School Health Services Report that goes before the Pasco County School Board on Tuesday.

The report, covering the 2006-07 academic year, noted 12,847 students had chronic health conditions such as cancer, bleeding disorders, diabetes, epilepsy, kidney disorders and sickle cell anemia. 'There are some really, really sick kids,' school board Chairwoman Marge Whaley said.

Asthma was the most common condition, affecting 3,904 students. An additional 3,372 students had allergies, and 2,606 had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

Whaley said there have been dramatic changes in health care needs since she started Pasco's school nurse program in the 1970s. At the time, she worked for the district's student services department.

At one time, a school might have a few students who regularly took medication. Now, there might be dozens.
School nurses and health assistants also are more likely to deal with severe problems, such as students who have heart monitors. Some of that is because the schools are so large. The school district serves about 63,000 students.

Medical breakthroughs also have played a role in increasing the number of students with chronic health conditions.

'Children who never would have made it to school are now graduating,' Whaley said.

For example, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation reports that in the 1950s few children with that disease lived to attend elementary school. Because of advances in medical treatments, the median age of survival today is 37.

In 2006-07, 12 students in Pasco schools had cystic fibrosis.

Whaley said a number of years ago there was a breakthrough in saving the lives of premature babies. While the survival rate improved, many of those children have severe disabilities.

Because school nurses and health assistants spend so much time providing care and administering medication, there is less time to teach classes about healthy living habits, Whaley said.

The school district also would like for the nurses to be more of a resource for the faculty and staff, providing such services as checking blood pressure and counseling people on how to improve their health, Whaley said.

There's just not time.

'The kids come first,' Whaley said.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT