Sunday, September 24, 2023

Relaxation Room for Students with Anxiety

How The School Nurse Used DonorsChoose to Fund a Relaxation Room for Students; especially those with anxiety.

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: Anxiety is a mental health issue that affects many people, including teenagers. Actually, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders among teenagers. Approximately 1 in 3 teenagers experiences some form of anxiety during their teenage years. Read on to see how I used a DonorsChoose project to create a Relaxation Room for my students who experience anxiety during the school day.

Inspired by my school’s Sensory Room, I created a Relaxation Room! This room was FULLY FUNDED by my 10th DonorsChoose project & is available to all students at my school 😊 Get all the details & watch the video below ⬇️

The Relaxation Room Project

As school nurses, you've probably experienced a student complaining of anxiety. The symptoms can vary, but many include physical symptoms such as: headaches, stomach aches and muscle tension. Some students may cry, feel short of breath and feel nervous. In addition, some students may complain of excessive worrying, feeling restless, having trouble sleeping, feeling irritable, and having difficulty concentrating.

A recent study by the National Library of Medicine reported that nearly 15% of young people ages 10-19 experience a mental health disorder. At my school, we have reports that 18.57% of our student population has a known mental health condition.

My options used to be limited if the student denied school counseling services yet still wanted to try and stay at school. Not anymore thanks to a fully funded DonorsChoose project! Now, my students have another option- ten minutes (phone free) in the new Relaxation Room.

Even though this room is small (maybe 8 feet x 8 feet) & it also has a sink, a door to a water closet (toilet only), and several vintage filing cabinets, it is the perfect size for this project.

The relaxation room is complete with a reclining massage chair, side table with built in outlets, a galaxy light projector, and a calming 4 foot tall, fake fish tank! The first day of use this room made a positive impact!

Watch the video below to see how DonorsChoose helped me turn an old cot room from drab to fab!

We allow 15 minutes and that seems to work great!

However, if students need more time that is allowed too.

I kept data for my EOY BOE report and over 90% of the students who visit the nurse's office are able to return to class v. going home!

I credit this room for many of those return to class visits!

Can School Nurses Create DonorsChoose Projects?

DonorsChoose is available to most public school staff; check with your school district for their particular guidelines. Then you can read all about the projects I've completed HERE & start your very own project HERE!

The three main reasons I love using DonorsChoose are:

DonorsChoose is very user friendly! They provide you with step-by-step directions.
DonorsChoose collects all donated money. They purchase the items you've selected.
DonorsChoose has the items shipped directly to your public school!

To date, I've received over $4,600 in funding to purchase items for my school nurse office & you can too! I advertise my projects on my personal Facebook page and ask friends and families to share with others. I have received donations from friends, families, businesses, and even strangers who are looking to support public schools!

start your very own project HERE

Check out these other popular DOASN blog posts & product links.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Meet The School Nurse

Templates For A Meet The School Nurse Letter

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: Many school nurse enjoy creating "Meet the School Nurse" letters for the beginning of the year. Guess what? I'm not one of them, but I wrote this blog post for those of you who are :)

Why create a Meet The School Nurse Letter

There are quite a few reasons that creating a Meet The School Nurse letter is an excellent idea. I just don't do it because I use this instead!

However, many school nurses prefer a simplified one page meet the school nurse letter and hear are a few excellent reasons why!

First, an "about me" welcome to school letter can help establish a positive relationship between the school nurse and the students and their families. By sharing some personal information, such as hobbies, interests, and background, you can create a more approachable and friendly persona, which can help put students and families at ease.
Second, this type of letter can help communicate the school nurse's nursing background and student health goals for the school year. This is a great time to outline some of the key objectives of the nurse's office, office expectation, medication guidelines, and can help students and families understand what the school health requirements are, what can be expected during a nurse office visit, and when / how to expect to receive future communication from you.
Finally, an "about me" letter can help build a sense of community. By sharing some information, the school nurse can encourage students and families to share their health concern & questions, which can help foster a sense of belonging and connection.

Are you interested in a Meet The School Nurse letter?

If you're creative and have some free time then you can create your own templates. If you're trying to save time or lost all your creativity because you're to focused on collecting school physicals (!) then I've listed some editable options for you below!

Meet The School Nurse Templates on Etsy

Meet The School Nurse Templates by me on TPT

Check out these other popular DOASN blog posts & product links.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Individualized Healthcare Plans and The School Nurse

A brief overview of IHPs & School Nurses

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Helpful School Nurse Tip: An Individualized Healthcare Plan (IHP) doesn't have to be perfect. Think of it as a working nursing document that grows with the student and changes as their healthcare needs change.

IHP Overview

Individualized Healthcare Plans (IHPs) have been part of school nursing practice for decades and remain one of the most important tools school nurses use to provide safe, individualized care for students with complex health needs.

Real quick—the terms "health care" and "healthcare" are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference between the two.

The phrase health care typically refers to providing medical services to treat illness or injury, while healthcare is a broader term that includes promoting health, preventing illness, and supporting overall well-being.

That distinction is important in school nursing.

An Individualized Healthcare Plan isn't simply a document about treating a medical condition. It helps organize the nursing care, health promotion, accommodations, and interventions a student may need to safely participate in the school day.

Based on the nursing process and developed by the school nurse, an IHP is written by the school nurse, for the school nurse. It serves as the nursing foundation from which other school health documents—such as Emergency Action Plans (EAPs), staff procedures, accommodations, and communication tools—may be developed to support a student's health, safety, and academic success.

Because school nursing practice varies from state to state, every IHP should be developed in accordance with your state's Nurse Practice Act, school nursing standards, district policies, and current evidence-based practice.

The IHP is created by the school nurse for the school nurse.

NASN Position Statement

The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) describes the role of the school nurse this way:

"It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that the registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse) initiates and develops an Individualized Healthcare Plan (IHP) for students whose healthcare needs require more complex school nursing services. An IHP is a plan of care written by the registered nurse for students with or at risk for physical or mental health needs (ANA & NASN, 2017). It is the responsibility of the school nurse to annually evaluate the IHP, as well as to update the plan if deemed appropriate, to reflect changes in the student’s healthcare needs and address nursing interventions and/or student healthcare outcomes." NASN, 2023 IHP Position Statement

Individualized Healthcare Plans vs. Emergency Action Plans

One of the biggest misconceptions new school nurses have is believing that the Individualized Healthcare Plan should be shared with everyone who works with the student.

In reality, the IHP is a nursing document that guides nursing assessment, planning, interventions, and evaluation.

Most school staff don't need the entire IHP.

Instead, they typically need Emergency Action Plans (EAPs), school procedures, accommodations, or specific health instructions that clearly outline what to do, when to respond, and who to contact during a health event.

Providing the right information to the right people helps protect student privacy while ensuring staff are prepared to respond confidently when needed.

As school nurses, we play an important role in promoting best practices—protecting confidentiality while helping create a safe and supportive learning environment for every student.

Writing Your First Individualized Healthcare Plan

Writing your first Individualized Healthcare Plan can feel intimidating, but it gets easier with practice.

Remember, your goal isn't to create the perfect IHP—it's to create a nursing plan that clearly guides the care your student needs during the school day.

Every district has different expectations, so use your state's Nurse Practice Act, district policies, and school nursing standards to guide your documentation.

Over the years, I've created editable IHP templates to help school nurses spend less time formatting documents and more time focusing on student care. Each template is fully editable and can be customized to fit your district's needs.
Templates provide a starting point—not a finished product. They help ensure you don't overlook important information while still allowing you to individualize each student's plan.

View my digital IHP options here.

Condition-Specific IHP Templates

As my resource library continues to grow, I'm also creating condition-specific Individualized Healthcare Plans for some of the health conditions school nurses encounter most often.

Current templates include: