Primary School Nursing
Health goals and targets
The health goals and targets are:
- To reduce the frequency of preventable premature mortality
- To reduce the impact of disability occurrence and normalise the life of those with disability
- To reduce the impact of vaccine preventable diseases
- To reduce the impact of conditions occurring in adulthood that have their origins or early main infestations in childhood and adolescence
- To enhance family and social functioning.
Further significant redevelopment of the Primary School Nursing Program occurred in 1996. The key themes for redevelopment were health promotion and early identification. It was recognised that health issues need to be addressed in the social context in which they occur. A redesigned School Entrant Health Questionnaire (SEHQ), for completion by parents, was developed to elicit a comprehensive profile of the child's health status.
The SEHQ was developed in 1997 and implemented in 1998 following a comprehensive validation process. At the same time, the majority of primary school nurses received training to implement the Positive Parenting Program initiative along with other early intervention programs.
In 1997, the Future Service Delivery Arrangements for the School Nursing Service – a Discussion Paper was released, followed by a wide community consultation process regarding the future service delivery arrangements for child health surveillance services. The paper presented four options for service delivery, three options were to have Maternal and Child Health Nurses deliver the service, and the fourth option (current status of the program) was for the program to remain in its current form.
Recent developments in relation to screening includes the release of the NHMRC Child Health Screening & Surveillance: A Critical Review of the Evidence Report (2002), raising a number of questions about screening at school entry. The review found that there is insufficient available evidence to make recommendations for or against many screening tests. However, the recommendations are that further research and community discussion is needed.