About this course

Conducting health screenings according to approved standards are an important school nurse responsibility. This training provides information on the regulations and practice standards for conducting vision, hearing, Body Mass Index, and postural screening of school-aged children. This is one of four training workshops mandated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in order to be licensed as a School Nurse.

What you'll learn

After completing the training, you will be able to:

• Identify the laws and regulations that govern mandated school health screenings
• Plan and schedule school health screenings
• Manage school health screenings
  
• Document and interpret screening results
  
• Complete the referral process, including reporting to MDPH
  

Subject Matter Expert

• 
  Beverly Heinze-Lacey, MPH, BSN, RN Director SHIELD/ Nurse Planner, BUSPH
• 
  Karen Robitaille, MBA, MSN, RN, NCSN Director School Health Services
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• 
  Caitlin Pettengill, DNP, RN Assistant Director of School Health Services Massachusetts
  Department
  of Public Health

Special acknowledgements

• Thank you to the MA School Nurse Regional Consultants and the MA Department of Public Health School Health Services Unit for their contributions to this course design.

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

About this course

School Nurses are responsible for providing care for students so they can be successful, healthy, and safe in school. School Nurses are managers of, and hold full responsibility for, the school's medication administration program. This course provides the key information every School Nurse needs to know about medication administration in Massachusetts public and private schools including:

• Regulations and oversight of medication administration and delegation in Massachusetts
• The School Nurse’s role and responsibilities
• Medication administration resources and compliance tools
• Step-by-step processes required for medication delegation
• Delegation training materials for unlicensed assistive personnel
• Guidance around individual student situations
• Guidance in how to register with the MA Department of Public Health (MDPH) to register for delegation and medication administration in the school setting

This is one of four training workshops mandated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in order to be licensed as a School Nurse. Participation in this workshop is also required every five years for School Nurses listed on the school district’s MDPH Medication Delegation Registration Application.

What you'll learn

After completing the training, you will be able to:

• Outline a School Nurse's responsibilities around medication administration
  
• Identify a School Nurse's obligations  under Federal, State, and Local Regulations
  
• Describe types of medication delegation in a school setting and identify situations that can and cannot be delegated
  
• Describe the five rights of delegation
• Identify the best practice approach for several common student situations
  

Subject Matter Expert

• 
  Karen Robitaille, MBA, MSN, RN, NCSN

  Director of School Health Services
  Department of Public Health
  

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

The materials for this course may be audited at no cost. No credit or certificates are provided for this option. Auditing is recommended for anyone who wants to review the course material, access resources, or to refresh skills. Completion of a pre-test is required to begin the audit but, once you’ve completed the pre-test, you will have future access to the course without having to repeat it.

Course resources (i.e., forms, regulations, guidelines, ebook) are also available in SHIELD’s Medication Administration and Delegation Resources Section.

About this course

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 170,000 kids and teens are treated in an emergency department each year for sports or recreation-related traumatic brain injuries, including concussions. Playing or practicing with a concussion is dangerous and can lead to a longer recovery and an increased risk for more serious brain injury. This course will help you create an environment that supports students who have suffered a concussion and that allows them to safely return to learn and play.

This course contains four lessons with information about concussions, related Massachusetts laws and regulations, and guidelines for students to return to learn and play. After completion of a pre-test, post-test, and evaluation, a certificate of completion will be issued that satisfies the annual training requirement in Massachusetts regulation 105 CMR 201.007.

The certificate will be valid for one year, July 1 - June 30.

For clinicians: Note this course is eligible for participation credit only. For CME/CNE credit, see courses offered by MA Medical Society [ http://www.massmed.org/CME/ConcussionTreatmentManagementandPrevention/] or CDC [ https://www.cdc.gov/concussion/HeadsUp/clinicians/index.html]

Subject Matter Experts

• 
  Michael Beasley, MD Division of Sports Medicine Boston Children's Hospital

• 
  Linda Brown Division of Violence and Injury Prevention Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• 
  Carilyn Rains, MEd, BSN, RN Director, School Health Services Plymouth Public Schools

• Alan Kulberg, MD, Concussion Clinic, Berkshire Medical Center


• Kathy Thornton, MS, LAT Injury Prevention & Athletic Training Southcoast Health

Enrollment and Contact Hours

Note there are two different options for enrolling in this course highlighted in the table below.

The Certificate of Completion will include the length of the module. Contact hours may be applicable towards continuing education requirements for certain credentials. Check with your credentialing body to verify if the topic meets its continuing education requirements.

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

About this course

School nurses play an essential role in keeping students healthy, safe and ready to learn. When taking on a position in schools, nurses don’t always understand their role beyond providing clinical services to students. They need additional information about the roles they must assume to be leaders and public health partners to assure health and wellness - in their school, district, and community.

This foundational course introduces the laws, regulations and guidelines that affect professional school nursing practice in Massachusetts. Key topics relevant to school nursing, including the roles and responsibilities of school nurses in public health, nursing practice, and education; health equity; emergency preparedness; communicable diseases; behavioral health, and managing complex health conditions are discussed.

This is one of four training workshops mandated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) in order to be licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as a School Nurse.

This course formerly consisted of three online lessons and two full days of live classroom content. The live content has been transitioned to self-directed activities that align with the material covered during the live course. Once learners have completed all online content, the post-test, and course evaluation, they will be provided with a code to access credit and a certificate of completion. Please note:  Learners will be required to pay a $180 registration fee when claiming credit.

What you'll learn

After completing the training, you will be able to:

• Support student health and academic success
• Contribute to a healthy and safe school environment
• Act as health and wellness leaders in their school, district, and community
  

Subject Matter Expert

• 
  Beverly Heinze-Lacey, MPH, BSN, RN

  Director SHIELD
  Nurse Planner,
  BUSPH
  

Special acknowledgements

• Thank you to the MA School Nurse Regional Consultants and Karen Robitaille, MBA, MSN, RN, NCSN, at the MA Department of Public Health School Health Services Unit for their contributions to this course design.
• A special thank you to Mary Ann Gapinski, MSN, RN, NCSN, former Director of School Health Services, for her expertise, guidance, and support in preparing this course.

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

About this course

Massachusetts law (MGL Chapter 71, Section 97) requires verbal substance use health screenings in public schools. SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) is being used as a comprehensive approach to meet this mandate. This course introduces learners to school SBIRT program implementation and best practices in screening, reinforcing healthy choices, and intervening when students report substance use behaviors.

This course includes both live Zoom and online training content.  Health professionals seeking contact hours and nurses seeking licensure as school nurses must complete all components of this course.

• The first online lesson of this course describes the impact of substance use on teens, regulatory requirements for conducting verbal substance use screenings in schools, and key elements of the SBIRT in Schools program. The second online lesson provides an overview of Motivational Interviewing and how it is used to enhance conversations about behavior change.
  
• The live Zoom session introduces learners to SBIRT skills including screening, providing positive reinforcement, conducting brief negotiated interviews using Motivational Interviewing principles, and making referrals.

What you'll learn

After completing the full course, you will be able to:

• Describe the impact of substance use on teens
• Utilize the state approved verbal substance use screening tool
• Summarize the elements of the REACT model (for students who do not report substance use, or screen negative)
• Summarize the elements of the Brief Negotiated Interview (for students who do report substance use, or screen positive)
• Identify statewide referral resources
• Describe why MI is an effective counseling style when working with individuals with substance use
• Describe how the components of the Spirit of MI facilitate conversations about change
• Comply with MA regulatory requirements to implement a school based verbal substance use screening program

Subject Matter Experts

• Angela Cooper, Cred, Trainer, MASBIRT TTA
• Alissa Cruz, MPH, Program Director, MASBIRT TTA
• Lee Ellenberg, LICSW, Training Manager, MASBIRT TTA
• Alex Heinz, MSW, MPH, Trainer, MASBIRT TTA
• Beverly Heinze-Lacey, MPH, BSN, RN, CNE Nurse Planner
• Caitlin Pettengill, DNP, RN, Assistant Director of School Health Services, MDPH
• Wanda Visnick, MSN, RN, NCSN, HN-BC
• Enid Watson, MDiv, Trainer, MASBIRT TTA

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

The materials for this course may be audited at no cost. No credit or certificates are provided for this option. Auditing is recommended for anyone who wants to review the course material, access resources, or to refresh skills. Completion of a pre-test is required to begin the audit but, once you’ve completed the pre-test, you will have future access to the course without having to repeat it.

Course resources (i.e., forms, regulations, guidelines, ebook) are also available in SHIELD’s SBIRT in Schools Resources Section (the 4th gray box down the page).

About this course

This course introduces the participant to current practices and approaches to community assessment and planning for the purpose of community health improvement. Multiple exercises along the way will culminate in the development of a school/community equity needs assessment report for the participant’s school or district, and a preliminary community health improvement plan that corresponds to state performance measures. The second year of the course will pick up from the community health improvement plan, and guide the development of a specific continuing quality improvement CQI) project.

What you'll learn

By the end of Year 1 of the SCHENA program, participants will be able to:

• See themselves as public health change agents in the school setting
• Apply a racial equity lens in health data collection and interpretation
• Develop a school/community needs assessment and equity-focused community health improvement plan
• Identify strong school/community relationships and ones that still need fostering

Specifically, participants completing this course will develop skills in:

• Planning your assessment activities including identifying important stakeholders and community partners.
• Practicing principles of health equity as you develop community understanding and partnerships.
• Identifying, collecting and presenting health and demographic data about your community (including many new web-based data platforms).
• Documenting sources and consequences of health inequities in the community.
• Designing and conducting key informant interviews and assessment surveys.
• Assembling the information you’ve collected and communicating findings in an assessment report.
• Developing a preliminary Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) which stems from your assessment findings and community input, and promotes health and educational equity.
• Presenting assessment results and CHIP to your community

Learning Resources

• 
  Candice Belanoff
  ScD, MPH
  

Candice Belanoff, ScD, MPH, is a Maternal and Child Health Epidemiologist with a particular interest in the relationship of social forces and inequities to patterns of population health. Candice designed and is the founding Director of the Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation and Evaluation (CAPDIE) certificate program, which has over 100 enrolled students (as of 2018). She also teaches several courses at BUSPH, including Perinatal Epidemiology (MC759), Assessment and Planning for Health Promotion (SB820), and Social Justice and the Health of Populations: Racism and other systems of oppression (MC775).

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

The materials for this course may be audited at no cost. No credit or certificates are provided for this option. Auditing is recommended for anyone who wants to review the course material, access resources, or to refresh skills. Completion of a pre-test is required to begin the audit but, once you’ve completed the pre-test, you will have future access to the course without having to repeat it.

About this course

This course is designed as an alternative to the live Medication Administration in Schools: What School Nurse Managers Need to Know workshop offered by SHIELD. It is designed for public and private School Nurse Managers who are signatories on the Handling, Storage and Delegation Registration Application with the MA Department of Public Health. This course will provide School Nurse Managers with the knowledge and tools they need to oversee their district’s Medication Administration Program. It includes a set of prework readings and activities followed by a live Zoom class.

Participation in this workshop and the online course Medication Administration in a School Setting: School Nursing Practice in Massachusetts is required every five years for school nurses listed as signatories on the district’s MDPH Medication Administration Registration Application.

What you'll learn

After completing the training, you will be able to:

• Describe the role and responsibilities of the school nurse manager in the medication administration program in schools
• Evaluate a district’s medication program for regulatory compliance
• Develop and implement district medication administration procedures the meet state regulations
• Explain and implement the process for registration with MDPH of the school’s or school district’s medication administration program

Subject Matter Expert

• 
  Karen Robitaille, MBA, MSN, RN, NCSN
  Director School Health Services
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• 
  Caitlin Pettengill, DNP, RN Assistant Director of School Health Services
  Massachusetts
  Department
  of Public Health

Special acknowledgements

• Thank you to the MA School Nurse Regional Consultants and the MA Department of Public Health School Health Services Unit for their contributions to this course design.

Having trouble accessing the course? Contact support@nephtc.org

*This course is available only to pre-registered participants. You will need an enrollment key to unlock this course. Visit the SHIELD registration page for more information.