Nurses a class act in helping students

THE State Government is expanding its school health nurse program to more district schools.

The Department of Education advertised two further positions at the weekend to cover Tasman, Triabunna and Glenora district schools.

School health nurses are already working in 82 Tasmanian schools, including Montrose Bay High where Jess Isaac is the nurse.

For Ms Isaac the program, introduced in 2015, offered the perfect job.

At the end of her own schooling, she was deciding between becoming a teacher or a nurse.

Being a school nurse, she can combine nursing and helping students.

“It’s really nice working with the teenagers,” she said.

“It’s just so nice to see them grow and develop.”

School health nurses in secondary schools are involved in health promotion work in the classroom and are also available for students to talk to individually.

Ms Isaac sees at least 15 students at her “drop-in” sessions each week.

“As nurses we have a different professional code of conduct that means that what they say to us is confidential, provided they’re not harming themselves or at serious risk of harming others or not doing something illegal, so that reassures them greatly,” she said.

“Because we’re not providing a disciplinarian role either, they’re not going to come to us and get in trouble for anything – we’re there to support them.”

The Education Department’s nursing director Anthony Millward said school nurses could make a significant difference to students’ lives.

“We’ve had a lot of children disclose information that they’ve been sexually abused or things like that,” Mr Millward said.

“If a student feels that they can come and talk to someone about that then ... you’re going to change that student’s life.”

Anxiety, body esteem and potential teen pregnancy are some of the issues Ms Isaac helps students with.

“Some of these kids are so crippled by anxiety they’re not actually coming to school,” she said.

“It might be that we can help them with their anxiety to the point where they can actually attend school again . . . and they can grow and develop and do the things they want to, and also participate in their lives.”

Ms Isaac also helps students with medical conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy, those who are carers for their parents, and students who want to quit smoking.

“There was a student who I saw this year who really struggles with her schoolwork and [teachers] noticed she was looking up and down at the board and not really taking it in,” she said.

“I did a vision screen on her and, sure enough, her vision was not fantastic, so my advice was to move her to the front of the classroom, and I had a conversation with home about getting glasses.

“She’s got glasses now and all of a sudden where she was really struggling she’s now coming along really well, but she struggled from primary school right through.”

Primary school health nurses do vision, hearing and general development checks for all kindergarten students, targeted checks for children in higher grades and health promotion activities in the classroom.

Emma Middleton is the school nurse at Kingston Primary and four Huon Valley primary schools.

“We also provide health education,” she said.

This year Ms Middleton has focused on bullying, hygiene and dental hygiene.

“I’ve had children coming up to me both in the schools and in the supermarket saying to me, ‘Nurse Emma, I’ve been cleaning my teeth every morning and every night’.

“Little things like that ... make a difference because some children may not be brushing their teeth the correct way or not be brushing morning and night, and they need to have their own independence in maintaining their personal hygiene.”

Teaching students about nutrition, particularly sugar, has also been a big part of Ms Middleton’s work.

“People don’t realise the amount of sugar they’re having in their diet,” she said.

Many of the nurses run a sugary drinks exercise where children guess the number of teaspoons of sugar in popular drinks.

Mr Millward said being able to give young people the information they need to maintain good health attracted nurses to the school role.

If a student feels that they can come and talk to someone about that then ... you’re going to change that student’s life.