RNtoBSN
According to statistics published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), 15.6 million children and adolescents, aged 5 to 17, missed one or two days of school in 2012 because of illness or injury; another 12.7 million students of the same age group missed 3-5 days.
As children spend most of their waking hours in school, school nurses are on the front lines in the battle to keep children healthy. They are in charge of creating age appropriate programming to encourage students to make healthy choices in all aspects of their lives, from exercise and eating right to being aware of how they can get sick. School nurses also administer basic first aid and, with parental permission, can treat mild fevers or headaches with the use of over the counter medicines.
