Welcome to the Florida Association of School Nurses...

Greetings from the President . . .

The Florida Association of School Nurses is the premiere organization dedicated to serving school nurses statewide!

Welcome to the world of School Nursing!  It is a profession that will utilize all you have learned in your nursing education.  School nursing is more than just putting on a band-aid or giving a pill now and then.

We are often the only health care professionals that a child will see unless there is an emergency.  We are the watchful eyes and ears of the nation’s children, especially as more and more children with special health care needs are mainstreamed into our schools.

At first the job can seem overwhelming.  It may be difficult to see past all the health records you have to check.  It is important to remember that there are many things you can do to help students become ready to learn.         

Perhaps the hardest part of our job is our desire to do the very best and realizing that it won’t always happen.  We are the health professional in the building, but all of us have had someone interrupt our answer to a health question with their own “expert” answer!  Just remember, your quiet persistence, your smile, and a soft answer, “You might also want to consider this..." will bring people back to you with other questions.

Communicate with other nurses, ask questions, we have all been there before.  (In fact, when we get a new school, we are very often right back there again - just with a few more years experience!) WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!

Consider belonging to your professional organization.  In Florida, we are a unified state, which means when you join the Florida Association of School Nurses (FASN), you have automatically joined the national association, too.

To learn more about school nursing, we invite you to visit our web site, www.FASN.net, or talk to any FASN member.  To learn about FASN members in your area, click on the Regional News link to find your Regional Representative and/or County Liaison.

Have a wonderful school year!

Kathleen C. Rose, FASN President

OUR VISION

FASN will be recognized as the premiere organization representing Florida School Nurses.

OUR MISSION 

FASN strives to improve the health and educational success of students and the school community by developing and providing leadership to advance school nursing practice.

OUR GOALS

1.  Increase FASN’s political power base and recognition in the state.
2.  Broaden the base of school nurse leaders in the state.
3.  Increase structure, governance & statewide participation by members; increase representation from all areas of Florida, giving all school nurses an active voice.
4.  Formalize new relationships & renew past relationships with other state and local organizations who are committed to student health advocacy.
5.  Maintain fiscal responsibility.
6.  Increase professional development opportunities through education, certification and recognition.
7.  Promote school nurse research initiatives.
8.  Increase organizational communication within FASN and outward to the communities.
9.  Reflect accurately the critical and diverse roles of professional school nurses within the diverse cultures of Florida.

FASN ORGANIZATION

Florida is a large state and has school nurses working in many different situations, from rural to suburban to urban; from a cohesive school population to a very mobile one; from a single language school to multilingual schools; from one school per nurse to several schools per nurse.                  

FASN has developed a 10 region organizational plan within the state.  Each region  has 4-11 counties and a Regional Representative covering that region.  In addition, each county will have a County Liaison that will work with the nurses within her county and her Regional Representative.

FASN is governed by an Executive Board which is comprised of the Officers, Committee Chairs, and the Regional Representatives. FASN has the following officers which serve 2 year terms:  President-elect, Recording Secretary, Membership Secretary, Treasurer.  The President-elect and the Treasurer are elected one year, the membership and Recording Secretaries are elected the following year.  Our NASN State Director is elected for 4 years.  In addition, we also have the President and the Immediate Past President.

FASN also has the following committees to help our state organization run smoothly.  If any of these committees interest you, please contact an officer and you will be put in contact with the chair of that committee.

Education and Program Committee
Finance Committee
Awards and Recognition Committee
Legislative/Advocacy Committee
Membership Committee
Nominating Committee
Regional Representatives Committee

In addition, we may, from time to time, as the need arises, form Ad Hoc Committees to deal with specific tasks or problems.

CONFERENCES

FASN believes very strongly in increasing the professionalism of school nurses.  Your input is very valuable and taken into consideration when educational offerings are planned.  These educational offerings increase our knowledge and make us better school nurses, but they also offer opportunities for us to network with other nurses and learn from each other, too.

A state conference is held yearly, in January, usually on a Friday and Saturday.  There are nurses in our state who are not given time off during the week to attend conferences. This is why FASN made the decision to have a Saturday session.

In addition, each of the Regional Representatives is given a small stipend to help provide an educational offering in your region.  This may be an evening offering or one on an inservice or preschool day.  She may decide to work with a County Liaison to help provide an inservice to the nurses within a county.

FASN members receive information about the yearly NASN national conference.  It is an incredible experience to go to a national conference and network with school nurses from all across the country and world.

FASN is so committed to our educational goals that we try to provide scholarships to the state and national conferences every year.  While the conferences, regional and county offerings are open to all, only members of FASN can apply for scholarships.  It is a benefit of your membership that you should take every opportunity to apply for!

COMMUNICATIONS

If an organization is to grow and flourish, good communication among its members is essential.  By dividing the state into 10 regions instead of 5, there is more opportunity for concerns and congratulations to be shared.  Having a County Liaison in each county will make this even more likely.  In addition, communications from the Board will be sent down to the Regional Reps who will then communicate to the County Liaisons.  Then from the County Liaisons to the members and nurses in each county.  And information goes back up in the other direction, too.

FASN has a web site, www.FASN.net.  It’s a great place to go to read the history of FASN, see the faces of your officers, find links to other agencies that care about child health and to learn about the latest happenings in school health services.

We also have a semi-annual newsletter, the “FASN-ating News”.  This newsletter brings information about upcoming conferences, scholarships, and stories of interest to school nurses.

As members of FASN, we are also members of the National Association of School Nurses.  This means that we will receive the NASN Newsletter (6 times/year) and the Journal of School Nursing (6 times/year).   Many of our school nurses across the country are doing research and you will see the results of it in the Journal.
NASN also has a web site, www.FASN.org that will give you national information and link you to other state information, too.

Finally, if you are a Nationally Board Certified School Nurse (NCSN) you will also get the NCSN Newsletter twice a year.

OTHER GOOD INFO

AWARDS

FASN honors a State School Nurse of the Year.  We  present that award at our annual state conference in January.  Our standards are high, based on the National School Nurse of the Year criteria but Florida has some of the best nurses in the country.  The nominee must be a registered nurse, a member of FASN the current and preceding 2 years.  He/she should have 5 years experience as a school nurse and currently practice full-time as a school nurse.  Judging criteria are based on  NASN’s Standards of Professional School Nursing Practice, which can be found on the FASN web-site under Awards. 

If our nominee meets the NASN criteria, then Florida’s School Nurse of the Year is submitted to NASN to compete for the National School Nurse of the Year.

FASN has also made a commitment to recognize others in school nursing for their achievements, such as the Florida Nursing Association’s Clinical Excellence Awards or district School Nurse of the Year.  And we hope to recognize others who have worked with us to enhance and improve our professionalism as school nurses.  These persons, when we are aware of them, receive Certificates of Recognition.

BY-LAWS

Our organization, the Florida Association of School Nurses, is governed by a set of By-laws that are reviewed periodically.  These can be found on the FASN web-site under By-Laws.