Tools for School Nurse as Teacher

Peak Flow Monitoring and the School Nurse

This fact sheet is for your own information.

It offers suggestions regarding your role in relation to the peak flow meter, including instructions on how to use it, when to use it, and how to demonstrate it.

Included in the Tools for Teaching Students With Asthma and Their Parents section is a complementary set of instructions that you can send home with your students who use a peak flow meter.

Go to: the Peak Flow Monitoring and the School Nurse fact sheet.

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Peak Flow Meter Resources

Peak flow meters with replaceable mouthpieces are valuable to have on hand in your school for demonstrating peak flow monitoring and to monitor your students with asthma.

Following is a list of resources for peak flow meters. We will also be on the lookout for more sources and free demonstration models where and if available.

Go to: Peak Flow Meter Resources.

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Asthma & Physical Activity in the School

This is a downloadable booklet from the National Institutes of Health. It is a straightforward, easy-to-read guide designed to encourage physical activity for students with asthma.

For the older student who needs to learn about his/her disease, the complete booklet is comprehensive enough to serve as a primary piece of information concerning asthma, with an emphasis on physical activity.

Or you may want to download pages 1-13 for the physical education instructor at your school.

Go to: Asthma & Physical Activity in the School.

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Asthma Awareness Curriculum for the Elementary Classroom

This is a wonderful downloadable program for the elementary school teacher. As school nurse, your recommendation may go a long way toward encouraging the teachers in your school to integrate an asthma lesson into the regular curriculum on body systems.

The lessons in the Asthma Awareness Curriculum are easily integrated into a comprehensive health education curriculum and/or into science as it relates to body systems and the environment.

Or they can be integrated into social sciences as they relate to getting along with others and learning about community resources.

The lessons also include suggestions for math, art, and language arts activities.

In the resource section, you will find information to help your teachers learn more about asthma before teaching the lessons.

Go to: Asthma Awareness Curriculum for the Elementary Classroom.

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Reference: How Asthma-Friendly Is Your School?

The following is a simple checklist concerning asthma awareness and preparedness that all staff members should have the opportunity to review.

It is followed by a list of resource organizations for parents and school staff.

Please print this out and place it on a prominent bulletin board, or suggest it for your school's staff newsletter or school paper.

Go to: Reference: How Asthma-Friendly Is Your School?

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Major Guidelines From the NHLBI

For your own information, the following are clear-cut goals from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute concerning asthma management, medications, risk factors, and assessment tools.

With asthma now affecting nearly 5 million children and leading to countless school absences, some nurses are printing these out to put on bulletin boards for other staff members' reference.

Go to: the Major Guidelines From the NHLBI.

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Health Teacher With WebMD®

HEALTHteacher.com is as an online, alternative approach to improving school-based health education.

HEALTHteacher.com provides a comprehensive, sequential K-12 health education curriculum that consists of almost 300 lesson guides that meet the National Health Education Standards and provide skills-based assessment methods.

The Web site is designed to address the significant health and behavioral issues facing today's youth and their classroom teachers.

HEALTHteacher.com covers nine areas of health concern, including:

• Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Community and Environmental Health
• Family Health and Sexuality
• Injury Prevention
• Mental and Emotional Health
• Nutrition
• Personal and Consumer Health
• Physical Activity
• Tobacco

The multiple lessons offered are designed with appropriate content for:

• Grades K-1
• Grades 2-3
• Grades 4-5
• Middle School
• High School

Please recommend HEALTHteacher.com as a valuable resource for educating students about health issues to the staff members at your school.

Link to: HEALTHteacher.com.

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School Daze: Children, Learning, and Over-the-Counter Antihistamines

The number of allergic children is on the rise. In a recent study, more than 20 percent of the population of school children were found to be suffering from allergies.

There are many consequences of allergic conditions in children. Functional impairment is one of the most debilitating.

Inability to concentrate may affect learning, behavior, and overall school performance.

Many parents treat a child's allergies with over-the-counter antihistamines, but they can produce significant drowsiness.

The sedation caused by over-the-counter products can reduce a child's ability to remember facts and analyze concepts.

The US is the only industrialized nation that still uses sedating antihistamines as the primary treatment for allergies in children.

Before treating a child for allergies and asthma, a physician should be consulted.

A child's condition should be discussed with the school nurse, teachers, coaches, and any other people with whom the child has regular contact.

A treatment plan developed by a health care provider with the input of parents, caregivers, and educators can ensure that children with allergies enjoy a full, productive school day and take an active part in after school activities on par with their non-allergic peers.

Read the complete article.

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Tar Wars Presentation Materials

Targeting fourth- and fifth-grade students, Tar Wars is a one-time, one-hour classroom presentation on smoking prevention. It requires minimal preparation and follow-up. The program can be implemented at any time during the school year, and the scripted lesson plan can easily be incorporated into your classroom’s daily curriculum.

Link to: Program Guide & Other Presentation Materials, English

Link to: Program Guide & Other Presentation Materials, Spanish

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Strategies for Addressing Asthma Within a Coordinated School Health Program

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released Strategies for Addressing Asthma Within a Coordinated School Health Program.

Link to: Strategies for Addressing Asthma Within a Coordinated School Health Program

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Asthma Busters

As a school nurse, you can use this unique program to encourage your students to learn more about their asthma and complete school asthma management plans.

Link to: Asthma Busters

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Grants: "Where Is the Money?"

Is there anything more difficult for a busy school nurse than finding the money to fund research, educational programs and tools for the school nurse office?

Not any more! In "Where is the Money?" we list all the asthma- and allergy-related grants that are available in the US.

Some are appropriate for you as a medical professional.

Some are geared to kids with allergy and asthma.

Check back here frequently, as deadlines will come and go and we will be putting up new grant information all the time.

Go to: Grants: "Where Is the Money?"

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CEU Online

NurseCEU.com has an excellent respiratory section that includes
CEU courses on Pediatric Asthma.

Link to: The Free Directory of Online Continuing Education for Nurses at NurseCEU.com.

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