The 7 essential components of a student health file

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Magnus Health
February 13, 2014
Blog, Student Health
1 Minute Read

The 7 essential components of a student health file

We’ve worked with schools for years to consolidate health forms and collect the information necessary to complete a student’s medical record prior to attending school. Some schools collect the bare minimum and some go way beyond. We’ve found a happy middle ground of seven must-haves – the 7 essential components of a student health file. There’s certainly nothing wrong with collecting additional information, but with these items on file, you can be confident you have the necessary records for a student to safely begin school. check-list-web-500x500

  • Consent to treat: The parent, guardian, and/or eligible student should provide you with a signed consent to treat for regular visits and/or emergency events. It’s a best practice to require this form for each and every student.

  • Health history: Nearly everyone is familiar with a health history – you know, the pages and pages of paperwork you fill out every time you go to the doctor’s office. A full health history on file for each student ensures you’re aware of past health situations that could be pertinent to current medical treatment.

  • Over-the-counter: Schools need authorization to administer over-the-counter medications, and in some cases, they may require a signature from a physician as well as the parent. As with other forms, even if the parent does not authorize over the counter medication administration, having that choice recorded on file is important.

  • Prescriptions: If the student is prescribed medication, the school needs to know. Physicians need to sign off on it, as do parents, and all of that information needs to be recorded within the student’s medical record.

  • Immunizations: A full immunization history for each student is necessary, but collecting all of the dose dates, next action dates, and disease dates can be complicated, time consuming, and messy. No matter the headache, the information is vital to proving compliance with local, state, district, and federal regulations.

  • Physical: It’s important to have a recent physical on file, both for athletes and nonathletes. A physical indicates to you that the student has recently seen a physician and any health conditions have been uncovered. For athletes, it provides you with a baseline assessment for where the athlete began the year, in the event that there are injuries and you require information or a comparison for treatment.

  • Action plans: These are necessary only where applicable. If a student has a specific health condition, you need to know it, and you need to know how to react if an emergency occurs. On the other hand, if these conditions do not apply to a student, you should know that as well. The four most common student action plans are for asthma, diabetes, anaphylaxis, and seizures.

Regardless of what system or method you’re using to manage your students’ health information, these are items you should collect. Admittedly, if you use Magnus, it’s going to be easier – isn’t that convenient? Check out our student medical record (SMR) modules and learn how to simplify the process.

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