In primary and secondary schools, the role of the school nurse includes responsibility for supporting student emotional, behavioral, physical, and social health well-being through activities and services such as direct care, program and policy development, education programs, health promotion and prevention, and care coordination between student, family, school, and home. But during Covid, those responsibilities were severely impacted. In a study published online in Public Health Nursing, a team led by Professor Nakia Best found the pandemic had a profound impact on the services these nurses delivered, the unique skills of school nurses that are essential to mitigation strategies, and the moral distress school nurses encountered during the pandemic Understanding the important role school nurses had during the pandemic is paramount to fully understand the critical contributions they make and inform preparedness for future pandemics.
