Literature review on How do School Nurses perceive their Public Health

On How do School Nurses perceive their Public Health role - Literature review Example These services can include: provision of health and sex education to students, developmental screening activities, and administering immunization (Burns and Grove, 2003). School nurses are normally employed by schools directly, or they can be employed by the primary care trust, community trust or the local health authority. For most o the roles of school nurses, some prior experience in healthcare is required. DeBell (2006) acknowledges the service has shifted to a Public Health focus. She decided to conduct a ‘scope review’ to identify how this shift affects the school nurse service, particularly in relation to training needs. Public health principles, which have a strong preventive emphasis, have always played an important role in school nursing (Department of Health, 2002). The new child centered public health approach to school nursing makes it possible for school nurses to work within their public health roles, while at the same time, providing an environment to ensure that they make a maximum impact in their child or student-based work. Goodman-Brown and Appleton (2004) established that nursing practitioners working in the school environment perceived their role in different ways and evidence suggests this is mainly influenced by their understanding of Public Health.  For many nurses, public health is a different concept from school nursing. They do not see any connection between the services offered by school nurses and the general wellbeing of society (Wood and Ross-Kerr, 2010). McMurray and Cheater (2004) revealed that School Nurses believed that their Public Health role was misunderstood and unrecognized. According to the researchers, nurses thought that the public still perceived them as the ‘nit nurse’ (Burns and Grove, 2003). Most people do not realize the important role that school nurses play in the development of children and young people. Nurses feel that their work normally goes unnoticed since people do not