Insights: the Magnus Health Blog

The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived...our CEO, Chas Scarantino, just surprised our 2012 ASHE Award recipient during a school-wide assembly at a Florida indpendent school!

Whooping cough, or pertussis, has taken Washington State by storm this spring, with 1,284 confirmed cases to date. This number is up from 128 cases last year, and likely lower than reality, given the expense of testing to confirm verses simply treating symptoms immediately. A recent New York Times article discusses the epidemic and reasons behind it, including an easy opt-out policy for childhood immunizations. The opt-out policy led to a greater number of underimmunized students. Now, tougher regulations are being put in place in an effort to control the outbreak, including a new implementation plan for Tdap vaccine.

National Nurses Week is here! Hopefully our nurses already know how much we appreciate them throughout the year, but let’s give them some extra special attention this week, May 6-12. Regardless of their role in a hospital, doctor’s office, school, or clinic, nurses "educate, counsel, advocate, and lead" and deserve a week of recognition for their hard work. Magnus Health's inaugural ASHE Award aims to do just that. Online voting for the ten finalists closed last night, and this Wednesday (School Nurse Day), we will honor our very first recipient for his or her Achievement in School Health Excellence. Stay tuned for the results!

When forms don’t apply to certain students – like asthma or allergy action plans - many students and parents simply ignore the forms.  For the minority of students who deal with specific conditions, completing the forms is a yearly habit.  To the majority of students, the forms are wasted paper.  But, does a student or parent ignoring the form really mean they don’t have a condition?  Can you be certain that the stack of forms you have in the diabetes or food allergy folders are exhaustive?  Are you sure there aren’t a few students with a condition who simply didn’t submit their paperwork?

Today marks the 4th annual World Meningitis Day, recognized by the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations, Inc (CoMO) and its members (34 member organizations in 22 countries) to promote meningitis awareness.  Through their Join Hands Against Meningitis movement, they hope to bring together one million hands to stop meningitis worldwide.  One million because that is the number of people of people who will suffer bacterial meningitis this year. 

We hope we know what to do in an emergency, but do we really?  When we come face to face with a student unable to breathe, having a seizure, or throat closing due to a food allergy, we should immediately spring to action instead of panic.  We should know immediately what steps to take to help the student, and save their life in some cases.  This is why action plans are critical in school environments, and it is important that everyone know how to respond, not just the school nurse.  Action plans detail response procedures, ensuring that students receive immediate and appropriate care, thereby protecting the student and the school.

Most schools require pre-participation physical exams (PPE) in order for students to participate in athletics.  In a past issue of the National Federation of State High School Associations’ High School Today Dr. Michael Koester addresses PPEs in “The Pre-participation Physical Exam.”  According to the article, the objectives of a PPE are:

Food Allergy Awareness Week is approaching and serves as a nice reminder of the many student allergies in our schools.  With food allergies becoming more prevalent among students, particularly peanut allergies, schools are trying to address the growing concern for students, parents, and schools alike.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, the school environment is of particular concern, as “Studies show that 16%–18% of children with food allergies have had allergic reactions to accidental ingestion of food allergens while in school.”