Newswise — This flu season, schools around the country continue to make efforts to prevent the spread of the influenza virus and keep students healthy. Children are particularly vulnerable to catching the flu and the close quarters of the classroom further add to the spread of the illness. There are many methods to combat the transmission of the flu virus in schools and school nurses play a important role in this effort.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advocates flu vaccination, good health habits, and antiviral drugs as the three main tools to fight the flu. "When used together, these tactics can be highly successful and school nurses should take a leadership role in helping communicate those to teachers, parents, and students, in order to reduce illness and improve the health of the student body" , says Donna Mazyck, President of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN).
Parents, school children, and their caregivers are encouraged to practice simple, but effective rituals of good hygiene. Examples include frequent hand washing, covering mouths and noses when coughing or sneezing, avoiding sharing drinks and utensils and disinfection of home and classroom surfaces in order to avoid passing on of the influenza virus. Moreover, CDC strongly recommends that all young children, particularly those with chronic illnesses and their caregivers, be vaccinated.
During the 2006-2007 flu season, 60 children died from influenza complications and hundreds of schools were forced to close. This flu season, however, lives can be saved if simple prevention techniques are followed.
Refer to www.cdc.gov/flu for further information on the flu. Additionally, NASN offers a comprehensive online toolkit titled "Don't Get Sidelined by the Flu" intended to help school nurses educate parents and students about influenza. The toolkit is available at http://www.nasn.org.
To read the entire article, please click here: http://www.allenpress.com/pdf/snne-22-06-11.pdf.
The NASN Newsletter is the official newsletter of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) and is provided to members to use as a resource. The NASN improves the health and educational success of children and youth by developing and providing leadership to advance school nursing practice. For more information about the NASN or the NASN Newsletter, please visit http://www.nasn.org.
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