H1N1

Unfortunately, we have done nothing but talk about it. I plan on providing education to the students as I am able regarding general hand washing and cough etiquette but I have yet to receive guidelines. I would like to know it we are sending students/staff home with fevers >100.0 as recommended. Nurses have asked to meet with administration, but so far no meeting set. Hopefully we will have guidelines in place before it becomes a problem.

The resources NASN has gathered for school nurses: http://www.nasn.org/

CDC School guidance: http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/schoolguidance.html

Form to report school closure: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/schools/dismissal_form/

The CDC has asked that closures be reported by anyone in the school, they would prefer getting 3 forms about one closure than missing one.

Get together as nurses and provide administration with your recommendations of how you think it should be best handled in each of your schools based on the CDC recommendations.

Contact the health department now about hosting school located flu shot clinics for students parents and staff.

NACCHO has posted a toolkit for school located clinics:

http://www.naccho.org/toolbox/tool.cfm?id=1680

School-Located Influenza Immunization School Kit

The school kit is a comprehensive collection of information, best practices, and lessons learned from health departments working with schools to conduct school-located influenza immunization clinics. 07/27/2009