Monthly Archives: July 2013

School Nurse: Liaison of School Healthcare

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1066school_nurseWhat is?

The school nurse is considered as the leader in the school community to foresee school health programs, policies and activities. The school nurse serves in a pivotal role to promote expertise and oversight for the program of school health services and promotion of health education.Strengthening and facilitating the educational process are done through improvement and protection of students’ health statuses.

Relevance to History

The history and importance of school nursing was recorded in Oct. 1, 1902, in the United States, when Lina Rogers, the first school nurse, was hired to reduce absenteeism by interveining with students and families regarding health care needs related to communicable diseases. After a month of successful nursing interventions in the New York City schools, evidence-based nursing care made a positive remark across the city. Since then, the school nurse’s role has expanded greatly from its original focus yet the essence and goals of the practice remains intact.

Need of the School

A student’s ability to learn depends directly on his/her health status. The educational process is hindered once a student’s health needs are unmet. The school nurse supports student success by providing healthcare through assessment, intervention and follow-up for all students within the school setting. Addressing the physical, mental, emotional and social health needs of students and supporting their achievement in the learning process are all tasks of the school nurse. The school nurse not only provides for the safety and care of students and staff but also addresses the need for integrating health solutions into the educational setting.

Roles and Functions

The school nurse works to:

  • Facilitate normal development and positive student response to intervention.
  • Provide leadership in promoting health and safety, including a healthy environment.
  • Provide quality care and intervene with actual and potential health problems.
  • Use clinical judgment in providing care management services.
  • Actively collaborate with others t o build student and family capacity for adaption, self-management , self-advocacy, and learning.images
  • Provide additional roles as needed to meet needs of the school community.

Conclusion

The school nurse is indeed an important entity at school or in most organizations. Aside from teachers and guidance councilors, the school nurses are also the second parents of students who work to nurture the next generation of professionals and society’s bright future.

Honor: A Key in Honest Public Administration

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People always discuss about accountability and ethics when in an argument about public administration or anything that concerns the government. Yet, often forget about the importance of “honor” in public service.

Honor is defined as moral integrity or the esteem accorded to virtue or talent. In Filipino language, it is known as “dangal”, “karangalan”, or “kapurihan”. Without honor, a person has no ethical directions and thus thinks little on being accountable for his actions. According to Shafritz, Russel, and Borick, they stated that:

“Honor comes before ethics because a person without honor has no moral compass and does not know which way to turn to be ethical.”

Honor, in ancient times, was an important characteristic that must be visible to a person if he wanted to involve himself in public affairs because those perceived to be honorable were considered as trustworthy in public operations. Today, the word “honor” or the adjective “honorable” is rarely used in real life. Honorable people can most often be seen or read about in novels or movies but rarely in today’s society. Are the present government officials truly trustworthy? Well, it may be true because the people, who have the power to put them in office, voted for them. Or, maybe everything is all due to power, money, and prestige?

There was once a story about Abraham Lincoln who walked miles through the snow to return a book by a promised date. His word to return the book on time gave the full faith of his whole self to keep commitments. This was truly an act of honor, because he lived up to his word. This is a very important issue when it comes to our modern politicians. Every election season, numerous promises are made. Like a child’s wish list to Santa Claus, that’s how much a modern day politician’s promises looks like. However, once they are in office, where are those promises? Gone with the wind like a child’s balloon.

All who work for the government understand that they have a moral obligation to the people they serve, public trust. Anyone who works for the government must be honorable, in principles, values, and importantly in words. Section 1 of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution provides that, “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”

References:

  • New Websters’s Standard Dictionary Vol.1, Kimball Enterprise 2006. P.453
  • Shafritz, J., Russel, E.W., and Borik, C. (2013): Introducing Public Administration, 8th ed. Pearson Education, USA.
  • Section 1 of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.