In the 10 years between 1997 and 2007, the prevalence of food allergies in children increased by 50%, and this statistic keeps climbing. It can become an overwhelming task for schools to manage student health and allergies. The following 5 fast facts can be the key to improving allergy action awareness for yourself, your colleagues, and your students.

Since 1972, National School Nurse Appreciation Day has become a day to celebrate school nurses for all that they do and to provide a better understanding of the role they play in students’ education. National School Nurse Day is celebrated during the National Nurse Appreciation Week, which this year was held on May 6th-12th.

Are you celebrating the sixth annual Every Kid Healthy Week this week at your school? This annual observance was created to acknowledge school health and wellness achievements. This special week highlights the efforts schools are making to improve the health and wellness of their students and raise awareness about the benefits of providing students with healthier food choices. It is vital to focus on the link between nutrition, physical activity, and learning because great health is the key to students succeeding academically!

According to Rob Bisceglie, CEO of Action of Health Kids, "...the need to support health and wellness programs in schools remains a critical health and education issue. Working with thousands of schools and dozens of other organizations nationwide, we are collectively trying to help put kids on a healthy path so they can succeed academically and develop habits that will keep them healthy for a lifetime."

In honor of National Athletic Trainer month, Magnus would like to put the spotlight on all of the school Athletic Trainers out there! National Athletic Training Month is held every March in order to spread awareness about the valued work of the Athletic Trainers. They work hard to prevent athlete injuries as well as to treat them, and to make sure that the students recover and can get back on the field as quickly as possible.

It’s that time of the year again! Enrollment season is here and it is important for schools to establish an easy, streamlined experience for parents and guardians to submit their student’s health forms.The key to this is an efficient communication between the school staff and parents about what forms are required and when they are due. This can help avoid any confusion and frustration during this busy time of the year. A great tool to keep parents informed about their student’s enrollment requirements and the approaching deadlines are email reminders. An online Student Health Record (SHR) solution such as Magnus, can streamline the form collection process for schools and save staff valuable time. This blog post will cover best practices on using parent email reminders and how they are successfully utilized by Magnus client schools.

Educational institutions collect various types of sensitive information from students and employees. For students, personal identifiable information (PII), health records and, sometimes, parent credit card information is collected and stored in addition to their school performance records. Higher educational systems may be involved in research that is considered confidential and proprietary. Hackers generally target organizations where they may get the most personal health information (PHI). Healthcare and education are a prime target not only because they have a vast collection of PHI records, but also because they are known to have a weaker defense mechanism. That is the very reason why it is so vital for schools to evaluate the security vendor of the available Student Health Record (SHR) solution prior to making their purchasing decision.

Security is a process. It starts with identifying the sensitive information data set, its location, who should be authorized to access it, and how to best secure it based on the known threats. Security policies document these details and provide employees guidance on how to protect the private information. Then, it’s all about the execution and a life cycle of learning and improving.

Because schools are a common target for security breaches, it is vital for schools to have a detailed protocol in place. Following the set security processes that have been successfully implemented ensures that human error will not be the cause of a PHI leak or threat.

Schools deal with a variety of vendors and each vendor should be expected to have a security program in place. Just like the school itself, its vendors must protect the school’s data assets whether that’s from an external or internal threat. Here are some requirements schools should consider when selecting new SHR vendors:

Did you know that November is Diabetes and Epilepsy Awareness Month? Many children in schools suffer from these two conditions. Getting diagnosed with either of these conditions can be extremely frightening, especially for children and their parents. The good news is that knowing how to manage the disease, and by being armed with the appropriate care information, allows children to continue on with their lives as normal as possible, while putting parents’ mind at ease.