The Internet is changing school nursing practice. Available in nearly all school settings, and nearly as pervasive in American homes, we can sit and wait to see what the Internet will bring us next - or we can take command of our practice and actively explore the ways the Internet can serve our needs and our aspirations to bring health and success to every child in school! With Answers4Families, Nebraska’s school nurses have an opportunity to shape a valuable Internet tool specifically to improve the quality of our professional impact on education and health of children, adolescents, and families.
Many of us are familiar with the list serve for school nurses supported by Answers4Families. If you are not using this resource, stop reading now and go to the Website to sign up for the discussion group:
Answers4Families also offers educational tools. Ask Rx provides a link to the Nebraska Pharmacy Association and pharmaceutical expertise. Ask an Expert, a monthly feature, allows users to pose questions of interest to experts in a wide array of professional fields applicable to school nursing. Suggest an expert or a field you would like to have featured! Most recently, Answers4Families introduced an interactive tutorial on the use and development of the Individualized Family Services Plan, or IFSP, for young children with special needs. Look for this tutorial by searching on IFSPweb. What topics would you like to propose for interactive tutorials at the site? Health Screening methods? Exposure Control plans for Schools?
Answers4Families offers a bank of resources for families. From the site, you can link directly to the Nebraska Resource and Referral System. Looking for resources for the family with a young child with diabetes? A family needing access to financial resources for their child with a disability? Resources for adaptive technology specific to a student’s disabilities? Try the NRRS!
Answers4Families gives school nurses opportunities to create new resources to face new challenges. Current knowledge and resources on such perplexing conditions as methamphetamine use, pandemic influenza or other topics can be placed at our fingertips.
Finally, there is the School Nurse web page itself at Answers4Families. The Website is being renovated and revised to provide better navigation on topic areas – check it out! Have you ever wondered what you did with that nugget of particularly valuable info that came off the list serve? Find it again on the list serve archives! Five years of dialogue and information exchange are available with a few clicks of your mouse.
There’s a lot of talent behind the scenes at Answers4Families, most notably Charlie (Charlotte) Lewis. Charlie and her team at the UNL Center on Children,Families, and the Law bring us this resource. The School Health Program at Nebraska Health and Human Services, Office of Family Health, provides a financial contribution to make the school nurse Web page and list serve available to school nurses in Nebraska and support our practice.
Help unleash the power of the Internet to enhance your school nursing practice, and send a note to the list serve to share what you want to see in future developments!