Shared responsibility: school nurses' experience of collaborating in school-based interprofessional teams

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Educational Psychology
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• The Swedish Education Act (2011) mandates interprofessional pupil health (PH) teams to enhance student physical health, mental health, and special education.
• This new structure presents unique challenges for Swedish school nurses (SNs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore Swedish school nurses' experiences of their work and collaboration within interprofessional PH teams.
• To understand how SNs perceive their roles and contributions in the context of new educational policies.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving focus group interviews with 25 school nurses.
• Content analysis of interview data, utilizing the sense of coherence (SOC) framework to analyze workplace characteristics.

Main Results:

• SNs experience a disconnect between their perceived contributions and others' expectations regarding their roles.
• Some duties were meaningful and manageable, while others, though expected, detracted from core responsibilities.
• Collaboration within PH teams was effective when team objectives were clear, professionals were available, and roles were well-defined.

Conclusions:

• School nurses reported ambiguity in their PH roles and implementation within schools.
• There is a need for enhanced discussion on collaboration and role definition within PH teams.
• The sense of coherence framework proved valuable for analyzing work-related factors impacting SNs.