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Actions for the School Nurse
If there is not a nurse at your school, these tasks should be assigned
to an appropriate staff member. This staff member should
receive training in asthma basics, management and emergencies.
For information on how to get asthma training, contact your
local American
Lung Association office.
- Maintain an Asthma Action Plan
for every student with asthma. Include information on
medications,
dosages, triggers,
and emergency procedures.
- Asthma may be considered a disability for a student, depending
on severity, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act or
IDEA. Many students with asthma, especially those with severe
asthma, may need a 504 Plan/IEP to ensure that they receive
the services they need to learn in the school environment.
Use 504 Plans or IEPs, as appropriate, particularly for health
services and physical activity modifications. To find out
more about reasonable accommodations law, click here for info
on Section 504 and Title II of ADA.
- Alert staff members about students with a history of asthma.
- Use the warning signs listed
on this website to help identify students with uncontrolled
asthma. Provide this information to parents, and
ask parents to seek evaluation from a doctor.
- Assist with the administration of medication in accordance
with school policy, making sure medication is administered
in a timely fashion. Michigan's
law that allows students to carry their quick-relief inhalers
with them at school, for use in preventing or treating asthma
symptoms, if permission is given by the doctor and parent.
- Monitor response to treatment using a peak
flow meter, if possible.
- Communicate with parents about acute episodes, if any, and about the student’s
general progress in controlling asthma at school.
- Conduct inservices on asthma, and consult with staff to help develop
appropriate school activities for students with asthma.
- Collaborate with the PTA to
offer a family asthma education program after school hours.
Consult asthma organizations, including your local asthma
coalition and the
American Lung Association of Michigan for assistance in
setting up this program.
- Additional links that may be useful to you:
Michigan Association
of School Nurses (MASN) - Includes suggested school action
plans, and position papers on administration of medications
in schools and the delegation of school health services to
unlicensed staff
National Association of School
Nurses (NASN) - Includes many position statements and
briefs about use of inhalers, care plans, medication administration,
role of school nurse, indoor air quality, the laws about reasonable
accommodation, and more.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Resolution
on Asthma Management in School
Adapted from Managing Asthma: A Guide for Schools. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, and the Fund for the
Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of
Education. September 1991. NIH Publication No. 91-2650.
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