School Nurses’ Experiences With Medication Administration

Abstract

This article reports school nurses’ experiences with medication administration through qualitative analyses of a written survey and focus groups. From a random sample of 1,000 members of the National Association of School Nurses, 649 (64.9%) school nurses completed the survey. The quantitative data from the survey were presented previously. However, 470 respondents provided written comments on the survey. Comments on the eight items that had the most written comments were qualitatively analyzed. In addition, to clarify information obtained from the surveys, two focus groups with local school nurses were conducted. A constant comparative method of analysis was used, and results were combined from the two data sources. The combined analyses resulted in six final categories of concern: (a) delegation of medication administration, (b) comfort with delegation, (c) self-administration of medication, (d) medication administration errors, (e) storage of medication, and (f) administration policies. The findings suggest that school nurses across the country have similar concerns regarding the administration of medications in the school setting.