OASN Report from Membership Director

Fall OASN Membership Campaign Kickoff

Goal: Promote OASN/NASN membership at the regional level.  

How can your regional school nurse association help?  

This fall or at your next regional association meeting, members will receive a free lanyard and name tag which are intended for re-use at each regional meeting. These will display their name and will also include a ribbon that identifies their regional affiliation and whether or not the individual is also an OASN/NASN member.  

Please take this opportunity share the advantages and benefits that you have experienced as an OASN/NASN member with those you see who are not OASN/NASN members. A personal testimony is the strongest recruiting effort the OASN/NASN can make. NASN offers membership categories beyond the standard "Active" membership reserved for ODE licensed school nurses, so be sure to share this information. And please don't forget to promote membership in your local school district too.  

Among the many benefits of OASN/NASN membership is the fact that it is the only avenue through which school nurses can speak as ONE VOICE nationally and both organizations are actively working to increase school nursing's visibility.

The following are just a few key talking points on the benefits of OASN/NASN membership:

• Free NASN online programs providing over $300 of combined savings as an off-set to the cost of an individual membership! Choose from a variety of CE opportunities!
• Six issues of the valuable publications Journal of School Nursing and the NASN School Nurse with access to archives, The Weekly Digest, E-Communication, and much more.
• NASN Bookstore discounts
• Live Continuing Education (CE) programs with topics ranging from childhood diabetes and obesity to school emergency triage.
• Partnerships with organizations offering products and services discounted or free for members.
• And much more!

FAQs 

Membership Guide available?  

Benefits & Services" tri-fold brochure is available at  http://www.nasn.org/MemberCenter/BenefitsofMembership 

Just click on "Membership Brochure." Feel free to print and share this brochure at your regional meetings and perhaps with other nurses in your district as well.

NASN/OASN offers multiple membership options which are listed on the NASN website and below.

Frequently asked questions about membership?  

Can I pay my dues in installments?   

NASN members can pay their dues in one annual payment or in quarterly installments. This is called the Billing Frequency. If a member selects the quarterly billing frequency, the amount of the annual dues plus an annual fee of 5% is spread out over the membership year. NASN will automatically charge the member's credit card every three months for a portion equal to one-fourth of the total amount. The automatic payments will continue into the next membership year unless the member notifies NASN to terminate the dues.

How much are NASN membership dues?   

Amounts vary because many NASN Affiliates have a combined or Unified Membership dues structure with NASN. Active members are ODE licensed school nurses, however other options available include retired, student, associate (ex. Registered professional nurse in a school), member-at-large (LPN in the school), or Corporate/Business/Professional organization

How do I update my address, email, telephone or other information in my membership record?
Go to the http://www.nasn.org/MemberCenter/AssociationPortal  to make changes/updates.

OASN NEWSLETTER FROM ODH SCHOOL NURSING PROGRAM, Fall 2012

The Ohio Department of Health School Nursing program welcomes you back to the new school year! We would like to share some of what has taken place at ODH over the summer. First, a few FAQs:

Q1. Regarding the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 3313.713 and medication administration training -how often does the training need to be repeated?  

A1. ORC 3313.713 does not address how often designated school staff should be trained to administer prescription medication. The ODH medication administration training for licensed health professionals recommends that the "gold standard" is for designated school staff be trained annually and preferably have a refresher/mini-review mid-year, especially for those staff that frequently administer medications or will be going on field trips in the spring.  

Since its launch in May 2011, more than 1000 nurses have taken the ODH Medication Administration in Ohio Schools: Training for School Personnel. If you have taken the course and would like to review it again before teaching, you can access it by logging onto OhioTRAIN and click on "Transcript" in the blue "My Learning Record" box located on the right side of the home page; then click on the desired training.  

* After you have completed the online course, you can download all of the resources (videos, PowerPoints®, and other .pdf resources for each module) by clicking on the "Resources" menu tab located at the top middle area of the home page. Then click on OH-TRAIN located in a light gray box on the left side of the page, then scroll down and click on the title "Medication Administration Training (doc)." This will open up a Word document that will display the URL address of your desired training. Continue to copy and paste the URL address into your Internet browser to open up the training you selected.

Q2. How do I renew my access to ImpactSIIS for this school year?

A2. Nurses in schools who have CURRENT access to ImpactSIIS no longer need to submit a hard paper copy of registration forms each year. Effective July 1, 2012, upon logging in to ImpactSIIS, nurses will be given prompts to ELECTRONICALLY register. This will happen annually after July 1.

Schools and nurses that are NEW to ImpactSIIS will need to sign and submit hard paper copies of their security agreements and nursing license verification to the fax or address listed on the forms. Forms can be found at the ODH School Nursing website, http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhprograms/chss/schnurs/schnurs1.aspx; click on "Forms" then "ImpactSIIS Registration Forms." They are also at www.impactsiis.org; click on "Schools" and "How to Become a School ImpactSIIS User."

ODH will soon launch a new training titled "ImpactSIIS A-Z." The course will provide the learner with an overview of ImpactSIIS 2.0 and each module available. Authorized access to immunization, body mass index, hearing screening, lead testing, tuberculosis screening and vision screening data will be outlined and demonstrated in this course. Free CNEs will be offered through OhioTRAIN course ID#1034257. This training is expected to launch sometime in September, 2012. ODH will announce the launch via the ODH School Nurse Bulletin Board.

Dawn Abbott, School Nurse Consultant, was the ODH representative on the first USDOE Green Ribbon Award committee for Ohio and has been re-appointed in the program's second year. Ohio was one of the 29 states participating in the 2011-2012 pilot year of the new Green Ribbon Schools recognition program. The goal of the program is to recognize schools across the nation where staff, students, officials and communities have come together to produce energy-efficient, sustainable and healthy school environments. Two Ohio schools were named as national winners for the 2011-2012 school year: Loveland High School, Clermont County and North Adams Elementary, Adams County.

Please look for more details on the upcoming 2012-2013 Green Ribbon Schools program in an Ohio Department of Education press release in early September. 

Finally, the School Nursing staff had an article published this fall in the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrator's (OAESA) Principal Navigator entitled "Reflections on School Nurse Practice in Ohio." The magazine's theme for this issue was for authors to reflect on historical events, so ODH School Nurse Consultant Dawn Abbott shared her reflections on school nurse practice in Ohio. Here are some excerpts from her article:

• "The history of school nursing is filled with professional nurses dedicated to promoting quality school health nursing services that ensure safety and academic success for all Ohio students.
• "In the 1950s, school nursing practice continued to expand to include providing health education directly or by developing programs for teacher lesson plans. In the 1960s through the 1990s, concern for children with special needs led to the Individual Disabilities Education Act, the mandate for Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs)
• "In 1973, Ohio began issuing School Nurse Licenses (then called certificates) through the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). This license is the gold standard for a nurse working in the school setting. Despite budget constraints, many school districts in Ohio employ only Licensed School Nurses (LSNs). The five-year School Nurse License is a professional corollary to the Educator License.
• "In recognition of the importance of the role of school nurses, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Nurses and others all advocate for a ratio of one LSN per 750 students for the general student population, with fewer students per nurse in order to safely accommodate children with special needs. According to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) 2010 Survey of Health Services in Ohio Schools, there are 1,528 full-time-equivalent (FTE) registered nurses (RNs) employed in Ohio schools serving 1,937,343 students which creates an FTE RN: student ratio of 1:1,268.
• "In the healthcare world, electronic health records (EHRs) are being implemented both for improving patient care and billing purposes. Schools may bill Medicaid and other insurers for health services they provide and the billing process will be easier using EHRs. Professional school nurses are uniquely equipped to help schools transition into using EHRs for both billing and student record-keeping."

The ODH School Nursing program staff looks forward to working with you again this school year!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

One of very own OASN member, Laurie Celik (NEOASN) was published in NASN School Nurse this past July 2012.  The article, Healthy School Environment: Effectiveness of Hand Washing Instruction in an Elementary School Setting, can be found using the information below:

Infectious Diseases

Healthy School Environment: Effectiveness of Hand Washing Instruction in an Elementary School Setting

Laurel A. Celik and Diane L. Pancoe

NASN School Nurse 2012;27 194-196

http://nas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/4/19c

Again, congratulations on your great accomplishment!!!