School Age Children in Schools, Research Paper Example

In response to the challenges of H1N1 and other forms of the influenza virus, nurses must provide sufficient information regarding this important health issue to school age children in school environments in order to reduce the risk and spread of influenza. The implementation strategy will provide information to children in the State of Ohio. It is anticipated that the upcoming flu season will be active, due to a variety of factors, including weather patterns, the availability of the flu vaccine, and other indicators (Flu.Ohio.gov, 2010). For the designated population, there is a higher risk for some children, and these children should be removed from the risk as best as possible (CDC, 2009). In addition, if an outbreak occurs, those at the highest risk from this group must be removed from the high risk area as early as possible to prevent infection (CDC, 2009). In order to accommodate the needs of this population in fighting the influenza virus, it is important for nurses to utilize their existing resources, including technology-based solutions. To be specific, it is necessary for nurses in school-based settings to evaluate the population in question and to develop a telehealth strategy that will improve information sharing and access to flu-related protocols and preventative solutions in order to limit influenza outbreaks.

Nurses must identify areas that will benefit from telehealth strategies in school-based settings with influenza outbreaks in mind. By using these strategies, it is important to develop a program that will reach out to school age children and their parents in order to expand prevention efforts and vaccine options (Lilibridge and Hanna, 2009). Several options are available for nurses to transmit this information to children and their parents, including telephone calls, videos, and websites, amongst others (Lilibridge and Hanna, 2009). For this process, it is recommended that several alternatives should be specifically directed at the situation if an influenza outbreak takes place. These alternatives are as follows: 1) The nurse should enlist volunteers to make phone calls to the parents of students in order to remind them of the risks involved with the outbreak, how to identify symptoms of the virus, how to treat the virus, and how to prevent further risk to other family members. These should be in the form of recorded voicemail messages, providing contact information in case there are additional questions. Secondly, the nurse should film a brief video that can be posted on You Tube or on the school website that will inform parents and students of the current level of risk of the flu virus, and what measures are being taken to reduce the spread of the virus throughout the school environment. Finally, the nurse should prepare some informational materials, including links provided by the State of Ohio and the Centers for Disease Control that will provide additional information regarding the current influenza outbreak. All website information should begin with an informational message regarding the current outbreak, and should be updated regularly as information changes and the situation warrants. Using this type of combination strategy will be effective in establishing the urgency of this issue and how it may impact the school system and its children in important ways. These efforts will demonstrate that nursing telehealth is an effective means of establishing the importance of a serious health issue in an informational and cost effective manner.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009). H1N1 flu school guidance. Retrieved October 28, 2010, from http://www.cdc.gov/widgets/H1N1SchoolGuidance/alt/index.html

Flu.Ohio.gov (2010). Need to know. Retrieved October 27, 2010, from https://public.odh.ohio.gov/pages/default.aspx

Lilibridge, J., and Hanna, B. (2009). Using telehealth to deliver nursing case management services to HIV/AIDS clients. Retrieved October 28, 2010, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol142009/No1Jan09/ArticlePreviousTopic/TelehealthandHIVAIDSClients.aspx

Nursingworld.org (2010). What nurses can do about H1N1. Retrieved October 27, 2010, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/OccupationalandEnvironmental/occupationalhealth/Influenza/H1N1-Information/H1N1-Nurses.aspx