The Relentless School Nurse: There is Nothing “Routine” in School Nursing!

There is a concerning trend happening in state houses across the country fundamentally impacting how school health services are delivered by licensed school nurses. The most recent state is Wyoming, passing a bill that under the guise of “protecting parental rights,” requires schools to create lists of “routine” school nursing services that parents will have to agree to.  No, this is not a Saturday Night Live skit, it could be laughable if it weren’t real. It is absolutely disrespectful.

Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who chairs the House Education Committee, described his last-minute amendments  in a recent interview with Hannah Shields, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne

The first amendment created an opt-out option for federally regulated health screenings performed in schools: audiology, vision tests, scoliosis tests and body mass index assessments. The second amendment inserted the word “routine” into the bill’s language.

“If the kid comes in with a Band-Aid or a broken nose, or a broken arm or something like that… the nurse would be able to take care of that,” Brown told the WTE.

He added that school nurses “are still trepidatious about what this means in practice,” but he doesn’t think there is anything in the bill that would “give them major heartburn” over losing their license.

It’s disappointing to see such a callous disregard for the critical role of school nurses in ensuring the health and safety of our children. Instead of unequivocally supporting these dedicated professionals, the Wyoming House seems more interested in tying their hands with bureaucratic red tape.

Rep. Landon Brown’s assertion that nurses should feel relieved by these amendments is both patronizing and out of touch. It’s absurd to suggest that adding layers of consent bureaucracy somehow eases their concerns about potentially losing their licenses for providing essential care in emergencies.

Moreover, Rep. Brown’s comparison of minor injuries to the broader healthcare issues addressed by this bill demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the complexities involved. Band-Aids and broken noses are one thing; serious health screenings and treatments are quite another. To conflate the two is not only disrespectful to the expertise of school nurses but also dangerously ignorant of the realities we face in our daily practice.

By adding burdensome opt-in requirements for healthcare services, the bill creates unnecessary obstacles for parents and healthcare providers alike, all under the guise of protecting parental rights. We should be condemning them as affronts to the well-being of our children and the professionalism of our school nurses. 

To add insult to injury, Rep. Landon Brown and his legislators in support of this misguided bill are tasking schools with creating a comprehensive list of school nursing services and treatments that parents will need to agree to.

With this opt-in policy, schools will have to create a comprehensive list of all health care-related services and treatments provided by school nurses — each of which the parent will have to give consent to.

“They’re gonna have to create what ‘routine’ looks like in each school. … They’ve never had to do that before,” Brown told the WTE, adding that school nurses aren’t even sure what a list of “routine services” would look like.  – Rep. Landon Brown 

Friends, shall we help the Wyoming legislators understand that there is nothing routine in school nursing? Asking for a list of routine services disregards the full scope of school nursing practice. We provide much more than the sum total of tasks. 

Let’s flood the Wyoming Statehouse with lists upon lists of school nursing practices. I would be happy to collect them and pass them on to our Wyoming school nurse colleagues! 

Here is my first attempt to create a list, this is a draft copy only.  You can add to this list by clicking on this shared Google Doc: Draft List for Wyoming Legislators of “Routine” School Nursing Services, or feel free to email me at relentlessschoolnurse@gmail.com