The National Association of School Nurses represents school nurses exclusively. It was organised in 1968, incorporated in 1977, and reports about 20,000 members across 49 affiliates including one international chapter.
School nursing is the part of the profession most people encounter first and understand least. A school nurse is usually the only health professional in the building, works without immediate clinical backup, and carries responsibility for chronic disease management, medication administration, emergency response, immunisation records, mental health referral and public health surveillance for hundreds or thousands of children at once.
The coverage problem
The association's central advocacy fact is that only 65.7 percent of schools have access to a full-time school nurse, meaning more than 35 hours a week. The remainder share a nurse between buildings or have none.
That gap is a staffing question of exactly the kind this wiki covers elsewhere, with one difference: there is no federal or general state standard equivalent to a hospital ratio law, and the employer is usually a school district weighing a nurse against every other call on an education budget. See nurse staffing and patient outcomes.
What it produces
The association publishes a school nursing practice framework, clinical guidelines, position statements and a standards text, along with continuing education aimed at nurses working without on-site colleagues.
Its guidance has outsized practical weight because a school nurse frequently has to justify a practice decision to administrators who are not clinicians. A published national framework is the document that turns a professional judgement into a defensible standard.
Where the role sits
School nursing is one of the settings outside the hospital that has grown as nurses have moved out of inpatient work, alongside ambulatory care, home health and public health. See the nursing shortage and nursing specialties.
It also attracts nurses looking for predictable hours without night or weekend work, which makes it a competitor to the hospital for experienced staff, particularly those reducing their commitments. See per diem nursing.
Related
- Nursing organizations
- Nursing specialties
- Nurse staffing and patient outcomes
- The nursing shortage
- Nursing blogs
Sources
- About NASN. National Association of School Nurses, for the founding dates, membership, publications and the share of schools with a full-time nurse. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- 2024 National Nursing Workforce Survey. National Council of State Boards of Nursing and National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers, for practice settings. Accessed September 9, 2026.