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Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requires each candidate working toward a Professional Educator License in School Nursing (PEL-CSN) to complete a 300 hour internship. We thank you for taking on this professional responsibility to precept your intern to develop a leadership vision for themselves in school nursing.
Your primary responsibility as a preceptor, is to guide the intern's clinical growth experience in the specialty practice of school nursing. The UIC School Nurse Certificate program director, Dr. Eileen Moss (emoss1@uic.edu), and clinical instructors at UIC will serve as resources for you. A UIC SNCP faculty member will conduct a "site visit" with your intern at least once during the internship either in person or virtually.
If the SN intern is not currently working in a school setting, then the internship will be a traditional side-by-side preceptor-intern relationship. If the SN intern is employed in a school, the UIC program allows for up to 260 of the 300 hour internship to be conducted at the intern's place of work. These hours must reflect competency in the PEL-CSN role.
SN interns are expected to document 40 hours of internship activities apart from her work hours. These are stretch experiences outside the typical school nurse role and setting, such as completing assignments, observing in other grade level schools or in other districts, and leadership and professional development opportunities (e.g., conferences, meetings, webinars, etc.).
Preceptors and interns are expected to arrange meetings at least weekly via phone or virtual meeting platform if not working directly together in the school setting. In other words, we expect you to talk to each other (not just email).
NUPR 514 School Nurse Internship is organized by Clinical Assignments and Course Assignments. Please see the NUPR 514 Syllabus & Calendar.
Clinical Assignments: Your intern is expected to complete the following:
Submit the UIC School Nurse Intern Placement Agreement with required signatures from school district or school authorities by the end of week 3 of the semester.
Complete the School Nurse Self-assessment and Internship Goals according to the National Association of School Nurses Scope & Standards of Practice, 3rd ed. (2017).
Review the Intern School Nurse Self-assessment and Internship Goals and Intern/preceptor Responsibilities Sheet with the preceptor by the end of second week of the semester to begin planning a relevant clinical experience. Complete the Internship Goals Reflection and review with your preceptor at the end of the semester.
Clinical Logs: The internship is guided by the Illinois Standards for the School Nurse found in the Illinois School Code Part 23.120 that outline the professional knowledge and performance indicators for PEL School Support Personnel Endorsements (2017). The knowledge indicators of the IL School Nurse Standards were addressed in the theory courses, NUSP 512 Education Perspectives in School Nursing and NUSP 513 School Nursing Theories and Trends. During the internship, the intern documents clinical hours regularly that demonstrate competency to the performance indicators of the IL School Nurse Practice standards and submits the log to the clinical faculty at scheduled intervals according to the course calendar.
Course Assignments: In addition to completing the clinical log, there are 3 major assignments. Your intern is responsible for sharing the course assignment details with you. Though we ask you to support the student to successfully complete the assignments, you are not responsible for any grading - that's our job! The assignments are designed to be "formative" assignments, meaning that the student learns clinical and leadership skills through their completion of assignments.
School Community Audit Assignment: The social determinants in and around the school community impact a student’s health, wellbeing, and ability to learn. The school nurse intern will conduct a systematic observation of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing Page 5 of 10 school community data and environment. Interns will complete an observation template and critical thinking analysis of implications of the social determinants of health for school nursing practice.
Teaching a Health Lesson Plan: The purpose of this assignment is to give you real life experience in the Professional Educator role by teaching a health lesson to a class or group of students. Students may teach the lesson plan they developed in NUSP 512 Education Perspectives in School Health or create a new lesson plan. Students will evaluate their teaching experience through a teacher evaluation of their performance and a guided self-reflection.
Individual Education Program (IEP) Assignment: Under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education law (IDEA), students undergoing evaluation for special education are entitled to a comprehensive evaluation in all indicated domains, including health. As such, this assignment ensures practical competence in the role of the PEL-CSN in each component of the special education process: evaluation, eligibility, and the IEP, as well as developing student individualized healthcare plans and emergency action plans (as indicated). Intern and preceptor collaboration is important to identifying an appropriate student case study and successfully completing the IEP assignment.
School Health Advocacy Pitch: School nurses are change agents who can influence decision-making in their districts by advocating for improvements in health services for students and their communities. This assignment is an exercise in developing and giving an effective 60 second advocacy pitch (speech) to stakeholders. Students will record and post their pitches to the Discussion Board and engage in feedback among their peers.
Please also review the welcome letter I sent you via email.
Please don't hesitate to contact me at emoss1@uic.edu with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for all you do for so many, especially during the pandemic and these challenging times!
With appreciation,
Eileen
Eileen Moss, DNP, RN, PEL-CSN, NCSN
Assistant Clinical Professor
Director, UIC School Nurse Certificate Program