Role and Responsibilities of School Health Nurses in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 infection spread around the world in a short time and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in early 2020. To control the epidemic, some decisions affecting all segments of the society have been implemented by governments; such as curfews and travel restrictions, community activity cancellations, working from home, distance education and limiting some health services other than emergencies in hospitals. One of the measures affecting children’s lives and families is the school closures. With the closure of schools, face-toface education of children has been interrupted, and families have faced difficulties in accessing education services due to schools with inadequate technological infrastructure and lacking sufficient technological equipment. Also, there have been problems in accessing school health services such as nutrition, vaccination, and maintenance of health monitoring and controls provided to children and families. In this process, it has been reported that domestic problems, especially violence cases, have increased with long-term home quarantines. Depending on the course of the pandemic, schools have been reopened partially or full-time in some countries. Certain regulations have been made for the reopening of schools in our country and a series of individual and institutional measures and practices have become a current issue for pandemic control. Since there are no school health nurses in our country, especially in public schools, teachers have undertaken the control of the pandemic in many schools. Nursing services, which have increased in importance all over the world during the pandemic, are also essential for the school community. School health nurses, who are professional health workers, have a key role in protecting and sustaining the health of the school community, which constitutes a significant portion of the country’s population. Although there are no school health nurses in every school in our country, the need for them has once again emerged in filling the gap between education and health in pandemic management. The purpose of this review is to present a holistic view of the roles and responsibilities of school health nurses at primary, secondary and tertiary protection levels in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• School health nursing
• professional role
• child health
• pandemics
• COVID-19

COVID-19 Pandemisinde Okul Sağlığı Hemşirelerinin Rol ve Sorumlulukları

Abstract

COVID-19 enfeksiyonu, dünyayı kısa süre içerisinde etkisi altına almış ve 2020 yılının başında Dünya Sağlık Örgütü tarafından pandemi ilan edilmiştir. Salgının kontrol altına alınması amacıyla hükümetler tarafından sokağa çıkma ve seyahat kısıtlamaları, topluluk halinde yapılan etkinliklerin iptal edilmesi, evden çalışma, uzaktan eğitim ve hastanelerde acil dışındaki diğer sağlık hizmetlerinin sınırlandırılması gibi toplumun her kesimini etkileyen kararlar uygulanmıştır. Çocukların ve ailelerin yaşamını etkileyen önlemlerden bir tanesi, okulların kapatılmasıdır. Okulların kapanması ile çocukların yüz yüze eğitimi kesintiye uğramış, teknolojik alt yapısı yetersiz olan okullarda okuyan ve yeterli teknolojik ekipmanı olmayan aileler, eğitim hizmetine erişimde güçlük yaşamışlardır. Ayrıca çocuk ve ailelere verilen sağlıklı beslenme, aşılama, sağlık izlem ve kontrollerinin sürdürülmesi gibi okul sağlığı hizmetlerine erişimde aksaklıklar meydana gelmiştir. Bu süreçte uzun süreli ev karantinaları ile başta şiddet vakaları olmak üzere, aile içi sorunlarda artış olduğu bildirilmiştir. Pandeminin seyrine göre bazı ülkelerde okullar, kısmi veya tam zamanlı olarak yeniden açılmıştır. Ülkemizde de okulların yeniden açılması konusunda belirli düzenlemeler yapılmış ve pandemi kontrolüne yönelik bireysel ve kurumsal bir dizi önlem ve uygulama gündeme gelmiştir. Ülkemizde özellikle devlet okullarında görevli okul sağlığı hemşiresi bulunmadığından çoğu okulda pandemi kontrolünü öğretmenler üstlenmişlerdir. Pandemi döneminde tüm dünyada önemi artan hemşirelik hizmetleri okul toplumu için de vazgeçilmezdir. Profesyonel bir sağlık çalışanı olan okul sağlığı hemşireleri, ülke nüfusunun önemli bir bölümünü oluşturan okul toplumunun sağlığının korunması ve sürdürülmesinde anahtar role sahiptir. Ülkemizde her okulda okul sağlığı hemşiresi bulunmasa da, pandemi yönetiminde eğitim ve sağlık arasındaki boşluğun doldurulmasında onlara olan gereksinim bir kez daha ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu derlemenin amacı, COVID-19 pandemisinde okul sağlığı hemşirelerinin birincil, ikincil ve üçüncül koruma düzeylerinde rol ve sorumluluklarını bütüncül bir bakışla sunmaktır.

Keywords

• profesyonel rol
• çocuk sağlığı
• pandemi
• COVİD-19
• Okul sağlığı hemşireliği

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