As a parent, nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of your child. When you send them off to school each day, you want to have confidence that their learning environment is secure and that robust emergency plans are in place. Unfortunately, the reality is that school safety remains a major concern for families across the country. Active shooter drills, lockdowns, and reports of violence have become all too common.   Your voice matters, please take a few minutes to complete this important school security survey.  Your anonymous responses will help provide criti ..read more

Molly Boyd and me at MASN 2024   Meeting the readers of The Relentless School Nurse in person is always a cherished experience. This past weekend, I had the privilege of connecting with Molly Boyd, one of my readers, at the Missouri Association of School Nurses Spring Conference. After my presentation, Molly approached me, to say hello and capture this fun selfie.   I was delighted to meet Molly, and even more so when she wrote to me after the conference about contributing a guest blog post. Despite her self-professed inexperience in writing, Molly believed she had an important sto ..read more

Click to view slideshow. As a school nurse, one of the most rewarding experiences for me has been being invited to speak at state school nurse association conferences. I never imagined, eight years ago when I started The Relentless School Nurse blog, that I would be asked to present to colleagues across the country. What an honor it is to share time, learning, and camaraderie with school nurses outside of my home state.    This past weekend, I was gifted the opportunity to deliver the opening keynote message for the Missouri Association of School Nurses (MASN) conference. I want t ..read more

  Every year, over 356,000 individuals in the United States suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting. Shockingly, only one in ten survive, primarily due to the lack of immediate assistance before emergency responders arrive, according to data from the American Heart Association (AHA). On a typical Monday morning, February 7, 2022, the halls of Clark Elementary School witnessed a life-altering event. Missouri school nurse Meagan Lozano’s quick thinking and decisive actions proved crucial in saving the life of one of the school’s youngest students. As Nurse Lozano tended to ..read more

Today’s guest post is from our friend Holly Giovi , also known as Nurse Holly, one of the moderators of the private School Nursing Facebook group! Holly invites readers into a whimsical world where the ordinary routines of a school nurse’s day intersect with the extraordinary magic of a solar eclipse. Through Holly’s imaginative lens, we embark on a journey filled with unexpected transformations, strange maladies, and moments of healing grace. Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents, Holly, your contributions enrich all of us! Graphic by Holly Giovi  Eclipse Escapades: Tales f ..read more

Tune into this must-listen expert class on why we need more nurses in media, taught by public health nurse, journalist, and renowned media strategist, Barbara Glickstein, MPH, RN, FAAN. Join Barbara in conversation with Dr. Marion Leary and Rebecca Love, co-creators of The Love n’ Leary Podcast sponsored by The Nursing Beat. There is nothing more important to the health and public health of our world than nurses using their voice, knowledge, and expertise to communicate reliable, fact-based information in the media. The speed at which health information is communicated is like nothing we hav ..read more

The Headway team is a special projects initiative at The New York Times, funded by philanthropic grants, focused on investigating major societal challenges and progress through in-depth reporting and public engagement. Their tagline is: Exploring the world’s challenges through the lens of progress. As the United States grapples with a staggering rise in gun violence, the Headway team is embarking on a mission to shed light on this critical issue and amplify the voices of those impacted. The sobering statistics are hard to ignore. In 2024 alone, there have been 95 mass shootings in the count ..read more

Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing is hosting a book discussion with Maria Smilios, author of The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis, on Monday, April 8 at 4:30 pm. The event will be held in the Larson Kelly Auditorium, Driscoll Hall, and via Zoom. Register for the Zoom here: https://lnkd.in/gqdXASyT Moderator: Sunny G. Hallowell, PhD, APRN, PPCNP-BC, Associate Professor of Nursing Here is a peek inside of the true story that unfolded 95 years ago… New York City, 1929.  A sanatorium, a deadly diseas ..read more

  Click to view slideshow. It is hard to believe that the #Nursing profession is not officially recognized as a STEM field. How could that be possible? Nursing is a field that is deeply rooted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet it has historically been overlooked as a STEM profession.  Recognizing nursing as a STEM field is crucial for several reasons: Acknowledging the Rigor of Nursing Education: Nursing education requires a strong foundation in scientific disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and pharmacology. Nurses must also maste ..read more

Inspiration for my blog posts comes from many sources. Today’s message was prompted by this LinkedIn post from Justin Wright, creator of Brilliance Brief. It caught my eye because it focused on the power of words in creating work cultures of caring through supporting and encouraging people. I read through the list of declarative statements that managers who are “keepers” say to their staff. It made me realize how starved school nurses are for this kind of support and recognition.  School nurses are often solo practitioners, busily tending to students’ and staff’s physical and emotio ..read more