Hvor er helsesöster? En kartlegging av helsesösterbemanningen i skolehelsetjenesten
Sammanfattning
Background: The Norwegian Directory of Health has developed standards for attendance by the
school nurses in the services. So far the overview of the gap from the standard has been missing for
elementary schools, junior highs and high schools.
Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the attendance of school nurses in schools in Norway,
and evaluate this against the standards. By analysing the differences between schools, counties,
sizes of schools and sizes of the municipalities, we wanted to evaluate if the number of school
nurses appointed, and their attendance in the schools is adequate for providing services and diligent
care.
Method: A cross-sectional design was used. A question formula was sent to the municipalities. Non-
parametric methods were used to compare the percentage of school nurses with the size of the
school and the size of the municipalities.
Results: The school nurse is present every day in only 1.4 % of the schools. The number of school
nurses in elementary schools must be increased by 125 %, in junior high schools by 34.4 % and in
high schools by 21.1 % to reach the standards recommended by the government. The deviation from
the standards has been seen to increase with the size of the municipality and the size of the schools.
Conclusion: The staffing of the Norwegian School Health Service is not adequate to meet the
recommended standards. The service differs between municipalities and schools, and cannot be
characterised as uniformly easy and accessible throughout the country.