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Abstract
Aim
To describe the role of school nursing in leading and coordinating a multidisciplinary networked system of support for children with asthma, and to analyze the strengths and challenges of undertaking and supporting multiagency interprofessional practice.
Background
The growth of networked and interprofessional collaborations arises from the recognition that a number of the most pressing public health problems cannot be addressed by single-discipline or -agency interventions. This paper identifies the potential of school nursing to provide the vision and multiagency leadership required to coordinate multidisciplinary collaboration.
Method
A mixed-method single-case study design using Yin’s approach, including focus groups, interviews, and analysis of policy documents and public health reports.
Results
A model that explains the integrated population approach to managing school-age asthma is described; the role of the lead school nurse coordinator was seen as critical to the development and sustainability of the model.
Conclusion
School nurses can provide strategic multidisciplinary leadership to address pressing public health issues. Health service managers and commissioners need to understand how to support clinicians working across multiagency boundaries and to identify how to develop leadership skills for collaborative interprofessional practice so that the capacity for nursing and other health care professionals to address public health issues does not rely on individual motivation. In England, this will be of particular importance to the commissioning of public health services by local authorities from 2015.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Elaine McNeilly, Jo Magnusson, Melissa Chamney, Sally Roberts, and Stephen Abbott who contributed to data collection and analysis at various stages of the PEARLE project. This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme (project number 08/1605/121).
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the HS&DR Programme, NIHR, NHS, or the Department of Health.