Emergency and Disaster Nursing in Schools

Approximately 56.6 million children attend school in the U.S., spending more waking time during the week at school than at home. Schools and school communities must consider the unique needs of children and be prepared at all times to respond to natural and human-caused threats, emergencies, and disasters. This chapter discusses school emergency preparedness, including the functions of the School Emergency Operations Team and how to develop a School Emergency Operations Plan. The role of the school nurse in emergency and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery is outlined, as well as school considerations for the specific threats of pandemics and active shooter incidents.