Majority of States Fail to Provide Children with Adequate Access to Health Care in School

March, 2010, courtesy of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=59272

A recent study by the National Association of School Nurses (www.nasn.org) found that many children around the country do not have adequate access to the only health care provider they may encounter in their daily lives: a school nurse.

And that means they are less likely to be healthy and less able to thrive in school, according to the association.

The study defined failing states as those that do not provide the equivalent of at least one full-time registered nurse for every 750 “well” students—a goal that has been adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With only one school nurse for every 4,836 students, Michigan had the lowest student-to-school nurse ratio in the country.

To find out how your state measured up in 2009, download the School Nurse Fact Sheet and view the Nurse to Student Ratio Ruler.

For more information about school nursing and recent legislation to require minimum nurse to student ratios, visit www.nasn.org.