Ethical Dilemmas in School Nursing

Symposium Editor Teresa Savage

Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics will publish a collection of personal stories from school nurses. School nurses play an important and complex role. They often work as the only nurse serving hundreds of students, and act as the intermediary between parents, school administrators, and outside healthcare and social service providers. They promote adolescent and child health, provide care for common pediatric illnesses and injuries, support students with chronic conditions, and manage acute medical emergencies. School nurses regularly advocate for students experiencing socioemotional and mental health challenges, food insecurity, homelessness, or abuse. They may experience distress, particularly when a situation arises in which there is doubt or disagreement about the right course of action. We want true, personal stories in a form that is interesting and easy to read. In writing your story, please consider these questions:

• Tell us about an ethical issue you’ve experienced on the job. Feel free to share more than one experience. In your story, describe your school setting. Who do you provide care for as a school nurse?
• As you tell your story, please tell us a little bit more about:
  • How much do you feel supported by your school administration, parents, and your supervisor? Is your supervisor a healthcare professional or a non-healthcare professional?
  • What is formally and informally expected of you as a school nurse?
  • How do school rules, district policies, or government regulations affect your ability to act in a way that respects the wishes or best interests of parents and students?
  • What kind of professional development or support have you received to help you identify and relieve uncertainty, ethical concerns, or moral distress? Are there system changes or new resources that would significantly improve your ability to do your job well?
• What coping strategies do you use as you face daily challenges?
• What advice do you have for nurses preparing for a career in school nursing?

You do not need to address each of these questions—write about the issues that you think are most important to share. If you are not a writer, tell your story in your own words and our editorial staff will help you.

If you are interested in submitting a story, we ask you first to submit a 300-word proposal—a short description of the story you want to tell. Inquiries or proposals should be sent to the editorial office via email: [email protected]. We will give preference to proposals received by January 15, 2025. If your story is invited, we will ask you to submit it within 6 weeks of the invitation. Final stories are 4 – 10 double-spaced pages or 800 – 2000 words. For more information about the journal Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, the guidelines for authors, and privacy policies, visit our webpage at: http://nibjournal.org/submit/guidelines/

We plan to publish 12 stories on this topic in our print edition; additional stories may be published as online-only supplemental material. We also publish 3 – 4 commentary articles that discuss the stories that are published in the journal. To see a finished symposium, please visit Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics’ page on Project MUSE and click on the unlocked, open-access issue.

This symposium is sponsored by the BF Foundation.

Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics is indexed in PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and PhilPapers.
The journal is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press and is available in print and electronically to over 1,200 institutional subscribers via Project MUSE.