Asthma policy in Illinois: A survey of school nursing and staff knowledge and implementation patterns.

Publisher: Blackwell Scientific Publications Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 8501498 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1525-1446 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 07371209 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Public Health Nurs Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: [Boston, MA] : Blackwell Scientific Publications, [c1984-

Asthma*/drug therapy ; Asthma*/nursing ; School Nursing* ; Health Policy*; Humans ; Illinois/epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Male ; Child ; Adult ; School Health Services/organization & administration ; Nebulizers and Vaporizers

Objective: Our goal is to examine gaps in self-carry, asthma emergency protocol, and stock inhaler policy knowledge in Illinois schools.
Design: A 30-item REDCap cross-sectional survey developed by a team of stakeholders was disseminated. Questions assessed policy knowledge, awareness, and practices regarding asthma emergency protocols, self-carry, and stock inhalers.
Sample: Participants were Illinois school nurses belonging to a governmental organization listserv.
Measurements: Analysis utilized Chi-square tests, descriptive statistics, and t-tests.
Results: Nurses reported 36% of students on average self-carried asthma medication. Thirty percent of nurses were not aware of their emergency asthma policy and only 60% reported having an emergency asthma protocol in their school(s). Fifty-four percent of nurses were aware of stock inhaler programming. Of the 10.3% who reported a stock inhaler program, a lower frequency reported calling 911 for asthma emergencies. Perceived school asthma prevalence varied from 0%-87%.
Conclusions: Our survey demonstrates large variation in knowledge and implementation of school-based asthma health policy. This is likely due to variations in health policy education dissemination. Future efforts should focus on the dissemination and implementation of school-based asthma health policies to improve their more universal adoption and better support school-based asthma management.
(© 2024 The Authors. Public Health Nursing published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

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Illinois Department of Public Health; Respiratory Health Association

Keywords: asthma; health policy; implementation science; school health services; school nursing; schools

Date Created: 20240515 Date Completed: 20240709 Latest Revision: 20240709

20240709

10.1111/phn.13337

38745505