How a School Nurse Can Reduce Student Stress Using Systems-Level Thinking

Abstract

School nurses are essential members of the school community. Their ability to collaborate with other school team members promotes a system’s approach to the identification and management of students’ mental health thereby promoting students’ academic success. By enhancing the students’ abilities to cope with the long-term impacts of chronic medical conditions as well as academic stress and other contributing factors that affect their mental health, school nurses are in a unique position to positively affect the long-term health of students. This article is the fourth in a series focusing on the Framework for the 21st Century School Nursing PracticeTM (Framework) and describes the practice component of systems-level leadership, in the principle of Leadership. This article describes the process to institute systematic change after identifying a need to improve nursing care for the students who frequented the health office for mental health issues during the school year. While utilizing the National Association of School Nurses’ (NASN) Framework, this nurse created a program to address the mental health needs of the students while focusing on the essential selfmanagement and self-awareness skills required to manage and cope with the stress of childhood today.