What's Up With "Step Up"? Step Up and Be Counted: The National Uniform School Nurse Data Set

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Pediatric Nursing

Background:

• Current national data sets do not capture the health and well-being of school-aged children.
• Effective advocacy for children's health requires comprehensive data on where they live, learn, and play.

Purpose of the Study:

• To initiate the development of a National Uniform School Nurse Data Set.
• To establish the foundational processes for large-scale school nurse data collection and reporting.

Main Methods:

• The "Step Up and Be Counted!" initiative invited school nurses nationwide to participate starting in 2014.
• An informational website, marketing campaign, and data collection tool were developed.
• Training sessions were conducted at national conferences and local levels.

Main Results:

• The 2014-2015 academic year focused on establishing data collection processes.
• Initial data sets were collected from school nurses across 37 states.
• The first year generated significant data and identified challenges for refinement.

Conclusions:

• The foundational steps for creating a national school nurse data set have been initiated.
• The process highlighted the need for ongoing refinement and addressed initial challenges.
• Successful data collection requires collaboration and robust infrastructure.