National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Campaign Resources

NASN advances the specialty practice of school nursing to improve the health and academic success of all students with national and international reach to approximately 16,000 school nurses who are in 75% of the nation’s schools serving 52 million students and their families.

Fighting the Flu Happens at School! is a resource for school nurses to promote seasonal influenza vaccination to members of their school community. Healthcare provider recommendation is a known strategy that positively influences vaccine uptake by others. This resource provides school nurses with the tools to conduct an education campaign in their school while making the strong recommendation to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine. The campaign materials are organized by month, providing a suggested focus for the month, activities and resources. Resources include links to reputable websites and tear out full-color fliers for easy dissemination, with a resource section devoted to national resources of interest to various school community stakeholders. The materials were developed with the support of a CDC cooperative agreement. This resource was developed based on a thorough literature review and a national sampling of school nurses through survey and focus group testing. Included are resources from our various immunization partners, including the CDC, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition, Immunization Action Coalition, and others. Based on materials pilot-tested during the 2011-2012 school year, revised materials are now being disseminated with the support of MedImmune through national workshops, partner organizations and NASN communication channels. The materials are highlighted on the NASN web site. A limited number of hard-copy booklets are available by contacting Nichole Bobo at nbobo@nasn.org.

NASN promotes the importance of seasonal influenza vaccination to its members through several efforts including:

1. A dedicated seasonal influenza web page (http://www.nasn.org/ToolsResources/SeasonalInfluenza), highlighting NASN and national resources as well as unbranded resources developed in partnership with industry;
2. A free online continuing nursing education program for all school nurses, titled Seasonal Influenza Prevention and Management in the School Setting: Principles and Practice – October 2012. This offering is updated annually, and available at http://www.nasn.org/ContinuingEducation/OnlineContinuingEducation;
3. Informational pieces offered within our weekly electronic newsletter throughout the influenza season, including links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other reputable websites;
4. Regular Facebook posts and Tweets to support campaign messaging;
5. An annual national press release urging families to get vaccinated throughout the holiday season;
6. A soon-to-be launched new initiative, The Immunization Report Card, that will recognize school-based efforts to promote immunizations

NASN values collaboration with like-minded organizations and welcomes opportunities to dialogue with Nichole Bobo, Director of Nursing Education (nbobo@nasn.org), about current or future immunization initiatives; or Kenny Lull, Manager of Communications (klull@nasn.org), on areas specific to immunization messaging.