Article Analysis: Collaboration
Brianna Neusch
School of Education, Liberty University
EDSP519
Doctor Willis
11/22/23
Article Analysis: Collaboration
In the article from this week called, Meeting the Health Care Needs of Students with
Severe Disabilities in the School Setting: Collaboration Between School Nurses and Special
Education Teachers they examine the great unique collaborative partnership/relationship that
exists between the special education teacher and the current school nurse through a 45-item
survey. This article analysis is a brief but detailed summary of the article mentioned above as
well as an analysis/application of information. It will also contain information from other sources
and provide some concluding thoughts and a Biblical type of perspective.
Article Summary
Due to an increasing number of students who have special needs in academics, it has
become more vital than ever that the student’s healthcare and academic teams collaborate.
Pufpaff notes in the article that the two most crucial members of the student’s team are the school
nurse and the teacher. He uses the 45-item survey, as an attempt to try and examine the intricate
partnership between the nurse and the teacher. Additionally, it is also important to mention that
these findings seem to only capture the thoughts of the school nurses, rather than the special
education teachers. Pufpaff went on to eventually conclude that the results from the survey are
consistent with other findings that support this main idea centered around the important and
positive partnership that truly does exist between the public school nurses and the special
education teachers. However, just like with any other relationship, there is room for
improvement between the school education staff and school nurses. The better their relationship
is, the better they are then able to serve students who have special needs.
He also noted that the results of these surveys taken were quite "encouraging," and therefore did
not require much follow-up (Pufpaff et. al. 2015).
Analysis & Application
When thoroughly examining this article, it can eventually be concluded that the research
and conclusions agree with various other academic texts and resources. However, just like any
other survey or data, this study does have some limitations. One prevalent problem within this
study is that it only included school nurses. Furthermore, although the researchers initially
sought after many representatives for the survey, they only managed to obtaine a small 9.35%
response rate out of the total of 76 participants (Pufpaff et al., 2015, p. 690). Therefore, while
some of the gathered information within this study is pretty consistent with other findings, one
should note that this does not represent from a large scale of data.
When viewing the results/outcomes of the study, it also showed some great variability in
many areas in response to caseloads, work environments, as well as perceived levels of the
collaboration between the school special education teach as well as the nurse (Pufpaff et al.,
2015, p. 690). Coupled with these various responses, there was also a great deal of information
regarding the large amounts of time these respondents spent on tasks. Regarding the study of the
high number of tasks/duties that had nurse involvement, the researchers examined who else the
tasks may have been delegated to if a nurse was not solely involved. As one may expect, it
appeared that many tasks were either delegated to paraprofessionals (25%) as well as the special
education teachers (22%),and were also closely followed by the school secretaries.
The best thing that this study notes is how it is evident that special education teachers and
school nurse do their best to collaborate to ensure that the best practices are used for the many
students with special healthcare needs. However, it is also fair and clear to observe that these
practices may not be (and usually are not) consistent across the board. This is why it is
imperative and of the upmost importance that the collaborative relationship
between the nurse and teacher be a strong one and it does still require further work. According to
the author Heller, "The collaborative team model is currently the exemplary practice in providing
educational support to students with disabilities (Heller et al., 2009, p.13). Under this so called
collaborative team model, all members of the team are considered equal. They share an equal
amount of responsibility as well as accountability. Furthermore, they also maintain an ongoing/
open line of close communication (Heller et al., 2009, p.12). For these children who have special
healthcare and academic needs, their school environment is very essential to ensure they have a
positive school experience. The school nurse and special education teacher are a crucial part of
creating a positive school environment for these children. Although the study conducted by,
Pufpaff does indicate a strong sense that there is noteworthy collaboration between teacher and
School nurses, they do need further investigation to see if they truly are working towards
collaborative team model.
The IRIS Center notes that primary job that a school nurse must fulfills is to be an
advocate for students/children who have disabilities. Various duties that are typically done by a
school nurse include participating in team meetings, coordinating healthcare services, and they
must also communicate with the student’s families as well as their community healthcare
providers (The IRIS Center, 2007, p.1). Furthermore, along with being an advocate for the
student, the school nurse must additionally provide healthcare services when necessary for the
child. After reviewing this this information from the IRS Center, it seems that the study done by
Pufpaff seemed to indicate that school nurses seemed to primarily be responsible for the health-
care related services for students, however, that they do not fully engage in the education-related
collaborative activities aspect. This is a problem because is a school nurses is not able to fully
engage in a collaborative team for the students then she cannot best serve him and it may
interfere with the student’s educational goals and outcomes. This very same concept and idea can
be found by the author Thomas Mcintosh. He notes in his article Introduction to the Special
Issue: Increasing the Collaboration Between School Nurses and Personnel that, "School nurses
appear to have limited input during the development and implementation of interventions,"
which appears to clearly indicate that there might be a sizable gap between collaboration for the
school educators and medical staff (like nurses) who may not fully get to give their input or
opinions (Mcintosh et al.2015).
After reading the information from these various sources, one may be able to conclude
that although there is a decent amount of collaboration between the special education teachers
and nurses, it does seem that they often lack full commitment on both sides to fully work
together. Sadly, school nurses usually faced with a workload like never before. More and more
schools see students who have various special healthcare needs causing many school nurses to
become quite overwhelmed. They are given the tasks of not only giving medication, but also
training staff, and having to communicatee with providers, and do paperwork (among others).
In order to better and fully serve students, all teams members need to fulfill their roles and have a
collaborative relationship especially with the nurse.
Conclusion
In conclusion, although there is a decent relationship between a school nurse and a
teacher, there is always room to improve. It is our job as educators to do whatever is best for our
students. God tells us that we are supposed to love other as ourselves which includes the students
we work with. This article review tried to explore a brief summary of the article and analyze it
thoroughly along with outside resources. In Ephesians 4:16 it says, "From him the whole body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each
part does its work (NIV).” In order for our students to be able to fully thrive and experience a
godly and supportive educational environment we must put them first and ensure that needs are
being met. It is up to their team (which one day we will be a part of) to work together and do
their share to properly collaborate on behalf of the student. If done properly, this will help the
child grow, learn, and feel special. We must learn how to work and grow to together as God
intended. He loved all the little children and so must we.
References
Heller, K. W., Forney, P. E., Alberto, P. A., Best, S. J., Schwartzman, M. N., & DiMaggio, J.
(2009). Understanding Physical, Health, and Multiple Disabilities, (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Mcintosh, C.E., Thomas, C.M., & Maughan, E. (2015). Introduction to the Special Issue:
Increasing the Collaboration Between School Nurses and Personnel. Psychology in the Schools,
53(7), 631-634.
Pufpaff, L.A., Mcintosh, C.E., Thomas, C., Elam, E. & Irwin, M.K. (2015). Meeting the
Healthcare Needs of Students with Severe Disabilities in the School Setting: Collaboration
Between School Nurses and Special Education Teachers. Psychology in the Schools, 52(7),
683-700.
New International Version. (2011). BibleGateway.com. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=Ephesians+4%3A16&version=NIV
The IRIS Center. (2007). School Nurses: Roles and Responsibilities in the School Setting.
Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/nur01-personnel/
.
