School nurses and care coordination for children with complex needs: an integrative review

Health care for students with chronic needs can be complex and specialized, resulting in fragmentation, duplication, and inefficiencies. Students who miss school due to chronic conditions lose valuable educational exposure that contributes to academic success. As health-related disabilities increase in prevalence so does the need for the coordination of care within the school and between the school and service providing agencies. This integrative literature review provides a synthesis of published evidence identifying and describing the core concepts associated with the role of school nurses in providing care coordination/case management to students with complex needs. Six core essentials of nurse-provided care coordination were identified: collaboration, communication, care planning and the nursing process, continuous coordination, clinical expertise, and complementary components. Recommendations for improving care coordination were elucidated in the review. Analysis of the literature can help assure application of best practice methods for the coordination of care for students in the school setting.