PREVIOUS MYTH:
The cafeteria is the riskiest place in school
NEXT MYTH:
You will experience a severe allergic reaction if the food that you are allergic to touches your skin
PREVIOUS MYTH:
The cafeteria is the riskiest place in school
NEXT MYTH:
You will experience a severe allergic reaction if the food that you are allergic to touches your skin
Staff Training: Food Allergies & Anaphylaxis in School – What School Staff Need to Know
This 30 minute module is designed to assist the school nurse in staff training of management of life-threatening allergic reactions and increase food allergy awareness for all school staff including teachers, food service personnel, administrators, aides, specialists, coaches, bus drivers, custodians and others.
FOOD ALLERGY MYTH
“We can’t afford a full-time school nurse.”
FOOD ALLERGY FACT
Recent JAMA Pediatrics article projected every dollar invested into MA school nurses returned $2.20.
COMMENTARY:
This publication by Wang and colleagues projects an annual savings of 129 million dollars in teacher time, 28 million dollars in lost parent productivity, and 20 million dollars in medical care cost. After accounting for an annual cost of 75 million dollars, the projected annual savings were 98 million dollars. This study provides a good start for a changing dialogue and it even account for the cost saving of potentially fewer emergency room visits, admissions or other medical expenditures.
RESOURCES:
Making The Case For Full-time School Nurses: We Need Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Champions: This AllergyHome blog post highlights the indispensable role of the full-time registered school nurse and makes a plea and offers tips to those in the allergy community to advocate for our “Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Champions.”
Five Ways a School Nurse Benefits the School: NASN document highlighting benefit to a school afforded by school nursing.
REFERENCES:
- Taras. School Nursing. Beyond Medications and Procedures. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(7):604-606.
- Wang, et. al. Cost-Benefit Study of School Nursing Services. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(7):642-648.
