NURSING

Nursing

Nursing

Introduction

School nurses face a multitude of tasks with the rising rate of students diagnosed with chronic illnesses. Students with sickle cell disease (SCD) have a genetically acquired blood disorder that makes their chronic illness relatively invisible. These students are usually mainstreamed into the regular classroom within the school system, but as many as 50% of students with SCD will fail at least one grade (Javid, 1999). It has been reported that there is a lack of knowledge among educators concerning the academic implications of the direct and indirect complications from SCD (Schatz, 2004; Freeman, 2003).

Discusson

The role of the school nurse is critical to improving the academic status of students with SCD. The nurse must have an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the academic and cognitive impact of SCD and be ready to imple- Sara Day, RN, MSN, is the nursing director of the International Outreach Program at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN. Elisabeth Chismark, RN, MSN, is a clinical nurse specialist for the Adolescent Sickle Cell Clinic at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN. ment specific interventions. These interventions include promoting classroom educator awareness, developing individualized health care and educational plans, and referring the child and family for services as indicated by the individual need of the child.

The most common SCD complication and most common reason for hospitalization is the vaso-occlusive pain episode. Pain episodes vary in intensity, location, quality, and temporal patterns and are classified as acute (caused by blocked red blood cell flow) or chronic (caused by damage from repeated pain episodes and tissue ischemia) (Franck, 2002). The typical vaso-occlusive pain episode requiring hospitalization lasts approximately 10 days (Jacob et al., 2005). While absenteeism has a major impact on the academic attainment of students with SCD, the focus of ...