ARKSNA October E-News Letter

From The President

As many of you have observed, the fees for membership/conference have gone up. This is to help us with the increased prices of items for the association and conferences. The vendor rates also have been increased to help with these things. There are several things going on in legislation. As we learned at the NASN conference this past summer, there is a House Bill, HR 6201, that Rep. McCarty is trying to get passed. This bill is a ratio bill of 750:1 for school nurses. These are well students, with additional ratio for special needs and medically fragile students. I encourage you to go to NASN, find out whom your Congressmen and Senators are and send them a letter, make a phone call, e-mail, or text-message them. We need their support on H.R. 6201. A wonderful resource for keeping up with school nursing issues is www.nasn.org. Visit it regularly to see what is new. If you are not a member of NASN, read what Katie Lann and Bobbie Ransom have to say in their articles about attending a NASN national meeting.

For more from the president www.arksna.com/member_profiles/president/

A Message from the President-Elect

When I was in nursing school during the pediatric rotation, I had the opportunity to have a clinical experience in school nursing. The school nurse I observed during this assignment was so interested in the students at the school. She always had time to listen if one needed to talk or share feeling; with her. Her file cabinet was always full of snacks If someone forgot breakfast or just could not make it until lunch without a snack. The commitment for the well-being of each student was obvious to me during the three short days I spent in her health room I believe at that time, I knew school nursing was the area of practice I wanted to be my specialty.

The student nurses are in school nurses' offices to visualize the role of a school nurse, let us remember the impact we could be having on the student nurse who one day could be one of our peers in school nursing I would like to say publicly "thank you" to Ann Agee of the Little Rock School District. She was the school nurse at Metropolitan Career and Technical School. At the time I met her she was at Hall High School. Watching the way she practiced nursing in the school setting made me want to be a school nurse.

Vicki Crump, RN, BSN

A First-Timer's Look at NASN Conference

I have always been one to have close ties with National and State Associations affiliated with the specialty of which I am employed. The experience with National and State professional organizations has been both rewarding and uplifting. I proudly wore the First Time (Ist) Conference Attendee badge in Albuquerque, New Mexico from June 28-July 1st Dr. Steve Sobel an educator, former principle, and humorist, delivered the Opening Keynote address, "Special Prescriptions for a Magnificent and Joyful Future". He provided insights on how school nurses can care for themselves so that we can take care of others. I never laughed so hard; there were tears in my eyes. Some of the quotable from his message were: "Laugh more, live longer; Snow days or sex, which do you like best?; Love what you do twice as much as you do now". He heard a little kid say, " As I lay me down to rest, I pray tomorrow I pass the test. If I die before I wake, one last test I won't have to take". He shared with us the new goverment classification on aging: Middle Age: 45-40 years Elder: 60-75 years of age Elder Elder: 75-90 years of age 90 & above: old I was invited along with other school nurses to attend a Fields Research discussion regarding the "Always Changing" 5th Grade Puberty Education Program. We were divided into groups of5. Our task was to come up with means and ways to improve upon the present program. Each of the teams agreed that the "Always Changing" Puberty Video DVD must become 21st century friendly. Make it more audience interactive, and have availability/access to health classes via computer. We were all given a $50 American Express Card for our time and feedback. National Conference allows you to earn up to 15.5 CNE contact hours for full participation in the four day conference, networking and collaborating with other school nurses from all over, and an opportunity to visit exhibitors with the many giveaways of products, shirts, bag;, and samples. I cannot omit the flavor (hot chili peppers) of the beautiful mountainous city of Albuquerque New Mexico. Every school nurse must visit a national conference at least once in his or her school nurse lifetime.

Thanks to Dr. Brenda Bowles, Assistance Superintendent of the Pulaski County Special School District, and to Kathey Haynie, President of the Arkansas State School Nurse Association for the financial scholarship which allowed me to attend the National School Nurse Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a first time attendee. See you all at the 2009 National School Nurses Conference in Boston.

Bobbie Ransom, RN
School Nurse, PCSSD

A Voice for School Health

Imagine being surrounded by over 1,000 fellow school nurses from across the world. I was able to experience this profound gathering at the 40th Annual National Association of School Nurses' (NASN) convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Flanked by the beautiful Southwestern scenery, the mission was clear - Transforming School Communities: Voices for School Health - I was energized and excited.

With an interest in school nursing policy and research, I was able to select breakout sessions which I could utilize in my current graduate nursing studies as well as in my daily school nursing practice. To advance the practice of school nursing in Arkansas, we must become change agents. The implementation of evidenced-based nursing should be commonplace in our health rooms across the state. The continued practices of "well that's the way we've always done it" can no longer stand.

The introduction of No Child Left Behind legislation has transformed the educational environment to become heavily reliant on evidenced-based practices; school health in Arkansas must also mirror this change. Several resources exist for gathering research information to support your identified area of necessary change. I encourage all of you to utilize resources like the National Guideline Clearinghouse, the University of Iowa Center for Evidenced-Based Practice, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Sigma Theta Tau, the AAP and the CDC, to access policies, research studies and practice guidelines which can shape your practice and create healthy learners.

Next year's annual NASN convention will be in beautiful Boston, Massachusetts. I encourage you to begin your preparations to attend now. Information is available at www.nasn.org and discounted hotel accommodations will be available in the beginning of 2009. With your continued support of 50/50 raffles and other fundraising opportunities at our ASNA conferences, scholarships will be made available to provide future opportunities for other Arkansas school nurses. I am grateful for the ASNA scholarship which assisted my journey to Albuquerque and left me empowered to implement change. One person can change the world, why shouldn't it be you?

Katie Lann, BSN, RN, NCSN
Pulaski County Special School District

Arkansas School Nurses Association Annual Fall Conference

Information about this year's fall conference is posted on our web site. You can view the details at www.arksna.com/events/

Arkansas School Nurse of the Year

Details about the Arkansas School Nurse of the Year is posted on our web site at www.arksna.com/events/nurse-of-the-year/. You can download all of the necessary documentation on that page as well.

If you're having problems viewing this newsletter or would like to download a copy of the printable pdf at http://arksna.com/enews/.