The importance of research to school nurses and school nursing practice

Historically, school nursing has not documented sufficiently the health issues in schools, nor has it prioritized these issues for school nursing interventions or evaluated the effectiveness of nursing interventions. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) is strongly committed to the advancement of children's health. Thus, NASN is developing an infrastructure to support research that articulates the health conditions affecting children's school success and the contributions of school nursing to children's health and academic success. In 1999, NASN participated with the National Center for School Health and the National Nursing Coalition for School Health at a Research Summit to set a school nursing research agenda. Needs and issues were identified for future research activities. The primary outcome was the identification that school nurses must practice the standards of care pertaining to research. These standards specify that clinicians be informed about, supportive of, and participate in the conduct and use of research.