How Can I Best Facilitate the Transition of Health Office Staff from ...

HOW CAN I BEST FACILITATE THE TRANSITION OF HEALTH OFFICE STAFFFROM USING WRITTEN STUDENT HEALTH RECORDS (SHRs)TO ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHRs) IN MMSDBackgroundJane ImholteHuegel Elementary and Memorial High SchoolI have been a school nurse in Madison for twenty years completing my first ClassroomAction Research in 2008 on elementary students needing to sleep during the school day. I haveworked primarily in the elementary and early childhood setting as a school nurse until four yearsago when the opportunity presented for me to practice at the high school level. I have had theopportunity to work at West High School and currently at Memorial High School. Since so muchof my previous school nurse practice has been with younger children, I felt the need to look moreintensively at my high school practice.So, to try to increase my knowledge and improve my practice with high school students Iam again doing Classroom Action Research (CAR). At both of the high schools, I have had thegood fortune to work in collaboration with two other school nurses. I value this collaboration asmy previous school nurse practice has been an isolated role being the “only school nurse” in theschool. It is truly wonderful to work together as a team.Developing a QuestionThere are many questions and topic areas to explore and learn more about for me at thehigh school level. My nurse colleague and I decided to work together on CAR with the hope thatwe could learn together and be able to make a difference for our students. We identified severalcommon problems as high school nurses. Initially, we questioned high school students’perceptions of health, wellness and prevention because we see so many students seeking healthcare on a “need to” basis by going to the Emergency Room, and many students don’t have aprimary care provider/clinic. Further, when we arrange for students to go for physicals, withtransportation arranged outside of school hours, they frequently do not keep these appointments.We wondered what we could do to motivate high school students to seek primary, preventativehealth care.