More than a third of US schools don’t have a single nurse on-site – despite record rates of disease and mental health problems in students
More than a third of US schools do not have a single full-time school nurse, despite record rates of disease and mental health problems in students.
Only 66 percent of K-12 schools have access to a full-time school nurse, according to a 2021 survey by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN).
California has just one nurse for every 2,410 students in the state, for example, while Missouri has around one nurse for every 718 students.
It comes as America is dealing with high rates of chronic illnesses among K-12 students, including diabetes and asthma, plus record rates of mental health issues, which evidence suggests were exacerbated by school closures during the Covid pandemic.