Factors Limiting the Utilization of School Health Care Services
- Many needy students fail to utilize school health care services.nurse chris image by John Keith from Fotolia.com
Schools around the country have the capacity to provide substantial health care services to their students. While the school nurse provides daily management of minor health issues, school-based health care centers employ doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, mental health professionals and other staff who can provide both preventative and responsive health care. Unfortunately, many factors might prevent students from utilizing available school health care services. - Parents and students are often unaware of the wide range of health care services provided by schools. In the book "Legal Issues in School Health Services: A Resource for School Administrators," Elizabeth Gaffrey called this the "invisible nature of of the complex health care provided in the schools." School administrators, teachers and other staff are often well aware of the different services available but they fail to communicate that information effectively to the students or their parents. As a result, when students have a health problem, they do not seek care at the school.
- School health care services occur on-site and require students to be present at the school to receive primary care. Students too ill to attend school or students with habitual absenteeism will not have the option to utilize available services.
- In their study "The relationship of sex and risk behaviours to students' use of school-based health centres in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia," Donald Langille et al. found that female students are more likely to utilize school-based health services than boys. The empirical research study noted that the majority of nurses working with schools are female and that some schools have no male health care providers. Boys may feel uncomfortable seeking medical care from a female provider. In particular, female students feel comfortable getting information about sexual health from female providers but boys will not want to talk about sex with a woman. To increase the utilization of school health care services, schools must find ways to reach out to male students, such as recruiting male medical providers.
- Many students feel uncomfortable discussing their health problems with strangers. For example, sexually active teenagers may choose to not utilize school health care services out of a fear that the school's officials will tell their parents. In some cases, state law or school rules may require health care providers to inform parents of certain health care problems, such as sexually transmitted diseases or the consideration of an abortion. Students who feel that their confidentiality may not be honored will resist using school health care services.
- Students living in a family with health insurance may choose to obtain their health care services through a family provider. Familiarity with their family doctor and a routine established by parents will see that these children receive their health care needs out of school.
