School Nurse Workload Tool: A Quality Improvement Project

Abstract

Background: Every student should have access to a school nurse; ensuring students are safe, healthy, and ready to learn. The role has become increasingly complex and changed as the needs of students have evolved. Students who once never survived their complex diseases are surviving, thriving, and attending school. The evolving needs of students increase the workload and challenges confronting the school nurse daily. Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project was to evaluate (retrospective review) of data collected using the workload survey tool (WLST) related to school nurse activities. The workload survey tool was developed around the concepts associated with the National Associations of School Nurses Framework for the 21st Century School Nursing Practice™. Methods: A workload survey tool (WLST) was developed and deployed within a suburban school district as a QI project. Five cycles of data were collected across three school years. The DNP QI project utilized data collected by the WLST project and consolidated WSLT cycle data from 23 nurses across the five cycles, utilizing descriptive analysis examined trends. The mean determined across five cycles for the WLST subcategories included: nursing care related items (39.74%); care coordination activities (10.59%); special education-related activities (17.94%); documentation and record-keeping (11.31%); meetings, presentations, administrative functions (13.48%); and personal necessity leave, sick time, lunch (9.18%). Discussion: The data provides a baseline that we did not have before the project. The data collected provides a picture of the distribution of the nurse workload.