Advocacy for School Nurses and Student Health and Safety: Highlighting National and State Efforts

Abstract

Annually, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) sets advocacy goals. The goals include legislative and policy priorities. The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to the need to heighten advocacy efforts, specifically to provide for additional school nurses and supplies necessary to meet the challenge of safely returning students to school. While advocating at the national level, NASN also encouraged advocacy at the state and local levels. This article provides a brief summary of NASN’s advocacy efforts as well as providing examples from two different state associations demonstrating the importance of collaboration in advocacy efforts in areas related to the pandemic and in general areas related to school nursing.