Winter is coming. Aside from reminding you that it’s time for your annual Game of Thrones rewatch, this phrase serves as an important reminder for something else: flu season.
In North America, flu season typically runs from October through May, peaking between the months of December and February. The World Health Organization estimates that seasonal influenza impacts as many as one billion people each year.
The 2022-23 flu season was particularly severe for children and teens with the highest amount of flu-related medical visits and hospitalizations in recent years. As a school nurse, you play a critical role in keeping your student population safe and healthy. Learn five ways to prepare your health office and your school for flu season.
1. Educate Your Community
Flu education should be a critical part of every school’s prevention plan. By sharing resources and information with families, faculty, and staff, you can help eliminate a widespread outbreak among your community.
Here are a few helpful topics to include in your flu education program.
Symptoms: people infected with the flu typically experience a fever, muscle aches, fatigue, chills, and a cough. Encourage parents and guardians to keep their children home if they are displaying such symptoms. For teachers and school staff, outline the proper protocol for responding to a symptomatic student in class or on campus.
Risk Factors: while most people will recover from the flu without any complications, it can be quite serious for those with weakened immune systems or chronic illnesses. Educate your community about these risk factors and the long-term effects of a serious flu infection. Be mindful to avoid fearmongering and use statistics to illustrate the risk.
Cleanliness: remind students, faculty, and staff about proper handwashing techniques to help eliminate the spread of illness at school. For teachers and staff, provide a list of recommended cleaning supplies and encourage them to routinely wipe down surfaces in their classrooms or offices.
Etiquette: demonstrate the proper way to cough and sneeze by covering it with a tissue or one’s elbow. Emphasize the importance of washing hands afterwards. You might think this is a silly reminder for high schoolers or adults, but you’d be surprised!
If your school has a weekly newsletter, ask if you can reserve space to share these tips. You might also consider hosting a webinar or an all-school assembly. Looking for support? Check out the CDC’s Flu Resource Center for digital and print resources to share with your school.
2. Encourage Flu Vaccinations
While there is a wide range of misinformation about vaccines online, the flu vaccine remains the best way to prevent serious illness. The vaccine is recommended for everyone older than six months on an annual basis, unless there is a medical reason.
As you chat with your community about flu prevention, educate them on the importance of the flu vaccine and how it can lower the risk of a serious infection.
If your school offers or requires the influenza vaccine, use an electronic health record (EHR) solution like Magnus Health to keep track of students’ immunization records.
3. Establish a Sick Policy
Some schools establish policies to accommodate sick individuals and help prevent the spread of illness. This policy may include specific guidelines for the flu, or general guidelines for high fevers, vomiting, and other symptoms. It usually outlines how long a student should stay home for, when a doctor’s note is required, and how to communicate with the school.
If your school doesn’t have a sick policy, consider creating one! It’s a helpful way to ensure proper recovery from illness and mitigate widespread infection.
4. Track Symptoms
As the flu makes its rounds among your school community, use EHR software to keep track of students’ symptoms and infections. With Magnus Health, nurses and other authorized users like athletic coaches or school counselors can add these notes to students’ health records for future reference.
Magnus Health also syncs with popular student information systems like Veracross, enabling a reliable flow of information between academics and the health office. For example, if a student is marked absent in Veracross and Magnus Health has a recent record of flu-related symptoms, it’s easy to deduce the cause of their absence.
This visibility also helps you identify health trends among your school community, monitor absenteeism, and generate reports for school leadership and the health department.
5. Communicate
Communication is the key to a healthy school community — both physically and relationally. During flu season especially, strong communication between the health office, families, and the broader school staff is vital.
With Magnus Health, school nurses can have informed conversations with families about their students’ health with quick access to treatment notes, immunization records, and medication charts.
If your school requires the influenza vaccine, health staff can send automatic emails to remind families about upcoming immunization deadlines. Or, if there’s a large outbreak in a certain grade or school segment — the middle school building, for example — you can send a targeted email to a specific group of people to alert them of the illness and share helpful reminders for flu prevention.
Preparing for Flu Season with Magnus Health
By educating your community, encouraging flu vaccinations, establishing sick policies, tracking symptoms, and prioritizing strong communication, you can help prevent a widespread flu outbreak and keep your school safe and healthy.
To learn more about how Magnus Health can help you prepare for flu season and prioritize the health and safety of your school community, watch our on-demand webinar.