This page was last updated on March 2, 2011.
Keep standards for school nurses; Carol Gaido-Schmidt; Beaver County Times; March 2, 2011.
Some previous letters from Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt are here, here, here, here, and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Pennsylvania schools require one certified school nurse per 1,500 students. To be certified you must be an RN with a BSN and a school nurse certificate, including coursework such as school nursing theory and special education.
“School nursing requires a high level of autonomy, decision-making skills, and the ability to interpret research and laws in order to implement best practices and develop policies and procedures for the benefit of the students.
“A school nurse is responsible for hundreds of students and is sometimes the only health-care practitioner that they regularly see. Students are often on medications, or have health problems such as asthma or diabetes; sometimes they are mentally ill or pregnant.
“It is far more than just health screenings. Such a position demands advanced education beyond a two-year degree.
“Legislation is being introduced attempting to amend the public school code to allow schools to hire less qualified nurses. It is equivalent to lowering the requirements for teachers to an associate degree.
“Tell your legislators that you do not agree with this misguided attempt to change the public school code. At a time when we are trying to improve quality in the schools, this will only lower it.”
[RWC] Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt failed to tell us she is “First Aid/Nurse” at Beaver County Career & Technology Center and likely meets all the job requirements she cites above. This means Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt is not exactly an independent observer. I don’t know if Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt’s assessment is correct or not, but we need to keep in mind keeping current requirements likely benefits her (or at least doesn’t hurt her) while reducing requirements likely hurts her because of the potential for increased competition from lower-cost nurses. I’m not picking on Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt; I’ve made a similar point about the ASCE when it makes infrastructure assessments.
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