Length of Position: Permanent

Type of Benefits: Full

Months per year: 10

Number of hours per week: 37.5

Number of days per week: 5

State Salary Schedule: yes

School Nurse Job Description:

The school nurse is employed by the LEA, McDowell County Schools.
The school health program is within the Student Services Program.

Primary Purpose
The professional school nurse is responsible for planning, implementing, coordinating,
and evaluating school health services within the context of the Coordinated School
Health Program Model.
The school nurse serves in the roles of program manager/coordinator, case
manager/direct care provider, collaborator/advocate, educator and counselor for the
school district.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
The complex role of the school nurse demands, but is not limited to, and understanding
and knowledge of:

• Community, including the community as a system and aggregates as clients
• Pediatric/Adolescent Nursing
• Public Health/Community Health Nursing
• Health counseling, mental health crisis interventions
• Communicable Disease
• Applicable laws, regulations and standards pertaining to school nursing practice (NC
• Nurse Practice Act, Standards of School Nursing Practice and the Eight components of
• a Coordinated School Health Program)
• School Health Law
• Special education legislation and services
• Case finding, case management and health advocacy
• Program Management including personnel supervision
• Family theory, assessment and intervention
• Leadership, Networking and collaboration
• Ethnic and cultural sensitivity and competence
• Contemporary health and psychosocial issues that influence children, families and the
• community
• Health care delivery systems and the concepts of the primary health care
• Building student, staff and family capacity for adaptation, self management, self
• advocacy and learning
• School as a non-traditional health care setting
• Development, management and evaluation of school health programs
• Environmental health within the school community

Skills related to this important role include the ability to:

• Plan, coordinate and supervise the work of others
• Deal tactfully with others and exercise good judgment in appraising situations
• Make independent and timely nursing decisions and to triage
• Secure the cooperation and respect of students, faculty and staff
• Elicit needed information and maintain effective working relationships
• Collect data to direct evidence based practice
• Record accurately services rendered and interpret and explain records, reports,
• activities, health care plans, accommodations and medical interventions
• Identify health related barriers to learning (i.e. at risk behaviors, financial, cultural,
• economical etc.)

Duties, Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions

• The professional school nurse within MCS is responsible for planning, implementing,
• coordinating and evaluating school health services that:
• Maximize the quantity of in-class time by reducing the incidence of health related
• absenteeism
• Eliminate or minimize health problems which impair learning
• Promote the highest degree of independent function possible
• Promote student, staff and community awareness of and participation in health
• behaviors

The school nurse will provide:

Standards of Care
Assessment: Collects comprehensive data pertinent to the client’s health or situation

Diagnosis: Analyzes the assessment data to determine the nursing diagnosis or issues
Outcomes Identification: Identifies goals

Planning: Develops a plan, as needed, to obtain goals
Implementation: Implements plans through coordination of care, health teaching and
health promotion and consultation to influence the identified plan, enhance the abilities
of others and effect change

Evaluation: Evaluates progress towards attainment of outcomes

Standards of Professional Performance

Quality of Practice: Systematically enhances the quality and effectiveness of nursing
practice

Education: Attains knowledge and competency that reflects current school nursing
practice

Professional Practice Evaluation: Evaluates one’s own nursing practice in relation to
professional practice standards and guidelines, relevant statues, rules and regulations

Collegiality: Interacts with and contributes to the professional development of peers and
school personnel as colleagues

Collaboration: Collaborates with the client, the family, school staff and others in the
conduct of school nursing practice

Ethics: Integrates ethical provisions in all areas of practice

Research: Integrates research findings into practice

Resource Utilization: Considers factors related to safety, effectiveness, costs and
impact on practice on the planning and delivery of school nursing services

Leadership: Provides leadership in the professional practice setting and the profession

Management: Assists in the management of school health services

Performance and Workload Standards

Attend the New School Nurse Orientation and follow up sessions as indicated
Collect data for the NC DHHS School Health Nursing Survey and Program Summary
(End of Year Report)

DISCLAIMER

The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to this job.