National Association of School Nurses
Partners and Programs in the Spotlight
School nurses play a critical role in protecting the next generation from cancers caused by HPV, and the National Association of School Nurses is committed to spreading that message.
“As school nurses, we need to encourage parents to talk to their child’s healthcare provider to make sure their children are up-to-date with all their vaccinations and pave the way for a healthy school year,” said Nichole Bobo, NASN’s director of nursing education.
In addition to providing a strong recommendation, school nurses can incorporate other evidence-based strategies to increase HPV vaccine uptake, such as providing reminders to students and families about when to begin the vaccine series; the importance of completing the series according to the recommended schedule; and accessing state immunization information systems to identify students who need to be vaccinated, said Bobo.
NASN often promotes immunizations in its clinical journal NASN School Nurse and in its weekly electronic digest that reaches more than 30,000 subscribers.
As part of NASN’s adolescent immunization efforts, they have developed a template letter to send home to parents reminding them of the importance of getting the recommended vaccines for their preteens.
NASN also provides online resources to their members, which includes syndicated content from CDC’s Preteen and Teen Vaccines website. Learn how to syndicate CDC pages on your website.
NASN also offers online Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) with “The HPV Vaccine – Enhancing School Nurse Knowledge to Support Informed Vaccine Decision-making” as the most recent immunization-related installment.
NASN’s “A Grade” program this year aimed to recognize school nurses for their efforts in promoting immunizations in their school. In particular, the program aims to discover what school nurses are doing to promote vaccines currently recommended but not necessarily mandated for school attendance like HPV vaccine. Recipients of the award received a plaque, were highlighted on the NASN website, and recognized in NASN’s print and digital newsletters.
In addition to work on the HPV vaccine front, NASN has also developed the Voices of MeningitisTM campaign in collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur to raise awareness among parents about the danger and prevention of meningococcal meningitis, and motivate them to speak with their child’s healthcare provider about meningococcal meningitis prevention.
More information on NASN.