Georgia Cook's presentation will detail two resources under development in response to needs identified by SNs in the original School Nursing in the Time of Covid study. The first is the co-production of training materials with and for School and Public Health Nursing (SCPHN) students, focused around the practice modes available to work with children and young people. These will comprise self-contained materials and practical activities to encourage critical reflective practice in a format that can be provided to SCPHN educators nationwide to implement with their cohorts. These training materials will equip school nurses to deploy a range of different modes of practice to engage with, assess, and support children and young people in a post-pandemic landscape with increased public health needs. The second is to develop a restorative reflective resource for SN. This resource, offers guidance through a restorative process for SN teams who have been exposed to emotional stress and trauma, focusing on the impact of practicing both during and in a post Covid landscape. There is a need to ‘pause and reflect’, acknowledging the impact on school health teams and consider the way forward in a climate that RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2024 continues to evolve and challenge. These resources will be available online and can be used as part of regular team clinical supervision, or self-directed as part of the reflective exercise for nurse revalidation. Both resources are being co-produced - school nurses and organisations that represent school nurses (the Community Practitioner and Health Visitor Association - CPHVA, and the School and Public Health Nurses Association - SAPHNA) are involved in the design and content. We anticipate presenting early findings from the evaluation stage of both resources, before national launch. Sarah Bekaert's presentation: COVID-19 had unprecedented effects on children’s health and wellbeing. During the pandemic, school nurses across the world swiftly adapted their practice, demonstrating flexibility and creativity to mitigate negative health outcomes for children. However, COVID-19-related restrictions meant that they faced significant challenges in accessing and supporting children. This presentation will showcase the findings of two phases of research: an e-survey of SNs across RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2024 England and Wales to identify innovative practice in front-line SN work with vulnerable children and young people; and a qualitative study to examine SN’s views about new practices used with vulnerable children and young people, and work with partner agencies. A cross-sectional survey was administered to school nurses across the United Kingdom. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively. Qualitative data (free-text responses to open-ended questions) were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Seventy-eight participant responses were included in the analysis. In the qualitative study A purposive sample of 20 school nurses participated across ten virtual focus groups and one-to-one interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings show swift adaptation of practice; increased challenges in accessing, supporting and representing children and families; benefits for multidisciplinary working; reduced opportunity for preventative work, resulting in more complex issues later on; variability in SNs reporting of the usefulness of different methods used to engage with children and their families - with concerns about an increasing reliance on virtual platforms for service provision. Recommendations: considered use of virtual modes to enhance rather than replace in-person practice, building a robust evidence base that can inform future commissioning, clear guidance regarding the boundaries of school nursing practice in the context of increasing workloads, investing in the school nurse workforce going forwards. The following specific needs for SN were identified: to explore new practices that have been beneficial and how these be could be continued post-pandemic, and for restorative work with the SN workforce.
Cook, Georgia Bekaert, Sarah
School of Psychology, Social Work and Public HealthOxford School of Nursing and Midwifery
Year of publication: 2024Date of RADAR deposit: 2024-10-09