A school nurse is extremely important to give information to the students and to make sure they are healthy and safe. They have several duties within a school to make sure they fulfil their purpose.
There is a lot of science behind this job. They must know what to look for and be able to carry out health assessments for hearing and vision to make sure that a patient is healthy. They must also analyse a lot of statistics such as government statistics involving teenagers such as STI’s and smoking numbers.
There is also an economics part of the job which includes teaching young people about the economic cost of things. This includes drugs, smoking, alcohol and teenage pregnancy and the cost of raising a child.
A school nurse must also be involved socially with students. This includes specialist clinics in school so that students can drop in, talking to social services, working in the community which includes home visits and working with parents.
A school nurse is usually assigned to several schools so that all pupils in the local area on a weekly basis and therefore offers more confidentiality without having to see a doctor.
Vaccinations are administered by school nurses. Vaccinations are used to give people immunity, or at least partial immunity to a disease. They usually contain either a weakened version of a virus or a dead version of a virus which will both offer immunity to an ordinary virus. When the vaccination has been administered, the body will have a natural immune reaction to it. The body will detect the virus injected and have automatically try to combat the disease, as if it was a fully functioning virus. The white blood cells will produce antibodies that are individual in that they will not combat any other disease. Antibodies will kill a disease by binding with it. The white blood cells will then digest the virus and then be expelled from the body. The body will maintain the antibodies in the blood stream, protecting the body if it ever comes in contact with the virus.
School nurses are also involved in STI’s and contraception. STI’s are transmitted through sexual contact. They are only spreads this way but can have an effect on the whole body. STI’s can be easily prevented through the practices of safe sex and contraception. A condom is the only type of contraception that can prevent all types of STI’s. Contraception also prevents pregnancy, which school nurses try to combat. Female contraception are used to prevent the functions of the body that would allow pregnancy to occur or create conditions in which the egg cannot be implanted into the uterus wall. A condom is used to prevent sperm from the male ever reaches an egg to fertilise it, preventing a pregnancy. However, all types of contraception have failure rates in which pregnancy occurs.
Smoking, drugs and alcohol all have an effect on the body. Alcohol is dangerous when first used as it affects the senses and can cause people to make irrational decisions and put them in danger. It also has a long term effect as it is a poison to the body and damages the liver which in the long term can cause liver damage, disease and even failure. Smoking also has an immediate effect. It prevents the cells in the throat from protecting from harmful substances or other things which it would normally rid the body of. It also causes a build up of tar in the lungs which can cause difficulty breathing and worse quality of life. It also has many dangerous substances in a cigarette which cause poisoning and radioactivity. With prolonged smoking, the lungs will not function properly and gives an increased chance of cancer in the lungs as well as heart disease and heart attacks. Drugs can also alter the mind of the users. This will place them in danger as they will no longer understand risks or dangers and put themselves in danger. Drugs are also addictive which means that people cannot stop use them and need them.
