The Challenge 

Trinity School used to store student health information in file folders in the nurse’s office. Many of those documents were submitted on Visitation Day in mid-August, the day before the first day of school, or later in the year. It frequently took well into the spring to collect all the information. For a day or two in August, Nurse Debbie Bright would enlist the help of a substitute nurse to color-code file folders and make manual lists of students with asthma, allergies, EpiPens, inhalers, and other notable health issues. 

As with most schools, collecting vital health information from parents prior to the first day of school has been a consistent challenge for Trinity School. It is one of many tasks that parents must complete during the busy summer months and can easily be overlooked. Depending on the child’s age and health history, doctor appointments may also be required. These are also easily forgotten as families are traveling throughout June and July. 

As is required for any school in Georgia, Trinity School routinely undergoes Public Health audits of their student immunization records. To accommodate the auditor, paper copies of the immunization records were placed in a ring binder, divided by grade. That binder would then be given to the assessor to review page by page. 

“Every Magnus Health employee that I have been in contact with has been great.”

– Debbie Bright, School Nurse

The Solution 

When Trinity School made the decision to purchase the Magnus Health electronic Student Health Record (SHR), Nurse Debbie Bright noted, “The Treatment Notes application was a major factor, and also the ability to readily identify groups of students with special needs, or simply by classroom.” Assistance from the Client Services team made the transition as smooth as possible. “Each and every Magnus Health employee that I have been in contact with has been great,” Bright said. 

She also noted that Magnus Health has been responsive to her suggestions and requests regarding the product and how to use it, and when needed, a representative has joined her on early morning conference calls to address her specific issues. 

The Result 

Acing the audit process. 

Document organization has been key for the auditing process. When an audit is carried out now, Bright merely uses permission settings to share only the specific documents that need to be reviewed. “I no longer maintain a ring-binder with paper immunization records. Now, I simply give the assessor limited access to the grade-level and immunization records and she uses a laptop to review the documents online. Rarely, we print out a few forms for the assessor of the Pre-K, but so far no more than three pages,” Bright explained. 

For other schools and nurses using SHR to prepare for an audit, Bright’s advice is simple, “Relax. You have it organized. You know you have it.” 

Accessing information from the mobile app. 

Another tool Bright has utilized is the Magnus Health mobile app. “I needed it once to access parent contact info away from my office and I have teachers with access for field trips, diminishing the need for lists of information on paper,” Bright noted. 

Not only has the mobile app eliminated the need to make lists on paper for off-campus events, SHR has generally alleviated the burden on Bright for day-to-day operations. Because students can be put into groups denoting a health condition and teachers and school staff can be given limited access to view those critical details, it’s “easier to provide those ubiquitous lists of who has what problem, especially life-threatening allergies and respiratory challenges,” Bright said. 

“New parents, especially those moving from out of state or out of country, love it for the ease of getting most or all of [their student’s paperwork] done online.” 

– Debbie Bright, School Nurse

Summary 

Trinity School dealt with pages and pages of paper and incomplete health records well into spring each year. They also faced regular auditing of that health information, forcing Bright to make copies and maintain binders solely for the audit. But with SHR, health information is submitted in a timely manner, organized and managed in one location, and the critical information can be shared with the utmost security and privacy.