Thank you, Arizona School Nurses!
The Arizona School Nurse Access Program, ASAP, has ended. Arizona School Nurses supported this program, which aimed to increase the number of school nurses in Arizona, especially in rural and underserved areas, while also expanding the core competency of all school nurses through certification and continuing education. All Arizona School Nurses deserve a thank you for supporting and becoming part of this program by mentoring a new school nurse, attending webinars and conferences, and becoming certified school nurses. The number of school nurses who showed their dedication to the profession of school nursing was rewarding and humbling to those who brought you these activities. Again, we thank you. With your commitment to ASAP, we could show the positive outcomes we have gleaned from the program. A summary of these results include:
- 49 ASAP School Nurses were hired to serve 55 rural schools located in 13 of 15 Arizona Counties.
- 104 additional school nurses became nationally certified.
- 41% of district public school students were touched by ASAP (Table 1).
The Arizona Nurse recently published Impacting Student Health in Arizona: One School Nurse at a Time by Samantha Reeves and Pat VanMaanen, which presents more details about ASAP. Please review this article to learn more about how each program under ASAP impacted school nurses and the students they serve in their schools throughout the state.
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) will continue to support school nurses through the School Nursing and Health Services website, the School Nurse Huddles, the School Nurse Listserv, the Nurses Notes e-newsletter, school nurse committees, and technical assistance. Funding to expand ASAP activities and continue the programs now ending is underway; in the meantime, all ASAP information, including program documents, data reports, publications, and webinars, can be found on the ADE ASAP website. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) presentation by the ASAP ASU evaluation team is also here. As the evaluation team finalizes and publishes additional reports and findings, these will also be added to the site. This site will also link to the new online NASN School Nursing Practice FrameworkTM (Framework) training. Arizona school nurses will receive free access to the online Framework training sessions due to support from ASAP. Please bookmark the ADE ASAP website to visit and gain access to ASAP and NASN Learnings.