Journal of Children and Young People's Health

Background School nurses provide health care to children and young people in the school setting. Little has been published about school nursing in Western Australia, highlighting a pressing need to establish a comprehensive list of research priorities to address the knowledge gap.

Methods This study employed a four step Nominal Group Technique to explore school nursing priorities from the perspective of expert school nurses working in non-government schools in Western Australia. Five nurses with more than 60 years of school nursing experience collectively generated more than 60 research ideas using this approach, subsequently grouping these into key areas through facilitated discussion and group consensus.

Findings Priority research issues were strongly inter-related and primarily reflected school-level professional concerns which impact school nursing practice. The findings highlighted that nurses want greater opportunity to practice to their full scope, be acknowledged for school nursing work, to have improved professional identity as a school nurse and to be positioned as a leader in student health and well-being.

Conclusion Expert school nurses want to understand how school leaders perceive the role and contributions of the school nurse. This insight is crucial in improving the visibility of school nursing work and may contribute to addressing the professional issues identified in the study.

The Australian nursing workforce faces significant recruitment and retention challenges, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic.¹ Nursing students may not receive adequate theoretical and practical preparation to care for paediatric patients, even if offered a paediatric experience. The Australian Nursing Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) does not require a standalone subject on caring for paediatric patients in the undergraduate (UG) nursing curriculum.² With the uptake of postgraduate (PG) studies in paediatric nursing dependent on attitudes of registered nurses towards postgraduate education, this is of concern for specialty practice in a declining nursing workforce.³ The Bachelor of nursing degree is becoming a more generalist offering, with only sporadic exposure to paediatric clinical experience. This poses a risk to the paediatric nursing workforce that may be challenged by children’s diverse physical, psychological, and social presentations.

Despite advocacy for children to be cared for by paediatric specialist nurses, the Commonwealth of Australia supports a generalist nursing degree.⁴ Generalist nurse registration allows Registered Nurses (RNs) to work across diverse clinical settings, and postgraduate education is not required to work with children. In 2022, O’Malley et al⁵ said: “As ‘generalist nurses’ they are expected to possess diverse knowledge and skills.” It is only when graduate nurses begin employment that the challenges of paediatric and family health nursing  become apparent.⁶

This discussion paper presents the importance of partnerships between industry and tertiary education providers who are best placed to support undergraduate and postgraduate nurse education to bolster the recruitment and retention of a qualified and prepared paediatric nursing workforce.⁵

This reflective study examines the role of a Family and Community Liaison Coordinator (FCLC) in the Good Start in Life research project in the Belconnen District of the ACT, aimed at supporting families with young children in vulnerable areas. The FCLC facilitated access to child developmental services and GSIL interventions in Belconnen. Data were gathered through document analysis, observation, and informal discussions, involving 114 families, 540 interactions with educators, and 201 interactions with service providers.

Learnings about the utilisation of the FCLC role are discussed. Challenges in engagement prompted adjustments to communication strategies and implementation approaches. The study highlights the FCLC’s vital role in linking families with essential services and emphasises the need for adaptive communication and ongoing engagement to address a variety of needs within families, education, and community services.