Methods: Faculty members for the College of Nursing, College of Optometry and Honors College collaborated with the ISDs’ nurse manager, nurses from elementary schools within the ISD, and the clinical placement coordinators (colleges and ISD) to determine school placement sites. College students and faculty members of the university became volunteers for the school district. Once the elementary schools were identified as being a part of the Sight for Success project, the nursing faculty worked with the nursing clinical coordinator to assign nursing students to the schools. The coordinators for the Honors College and College of Optometry, then assigned honor students, pre-optometry students and optometry students in the graduate program to work at the designated elementary schools. Nursing students were certified by nursing faculty as vision and hearing screeners for the state. The team of volunteers including the pre-optometry students and undergraduate honors students completed the state vision screening certification program. As a pre-assessment, all students were asked to reflect and respond to a question regarding what they expected to achieve by working with an inter-professional collaborative team.
Two nursing students were assigned to each of the nine schools and became the lead for the student inter-professional collaborative team. One nursing student called their identified school nurse to coordinate their clinical days and time. Three out of the nine school nurses requested nursing students only to work in their clinic on their first scheduled clinical day. During the following three weeks, the inter-professional collaborative team of honor students and pre-optometry and/or optometry graduate students joined the nursing students to complete vision screening. Vision screening was conducted for kindergarten, 1st grade, 3rd grade and 5th grade, as well as, children identified to be struggling in the classroom. After screenings were completed, a referral log was created to notify the parents/guardians for those students who failed the vision screening. Parents/guardians were contacted by email, telephone calls and/or sending a referral home via mail.
As a post assessment, all students were then asked to reflect and respond to a follow up question regarding if their expectations of the inter-professional collaborative team were met, what they learn from working with other professional disciplines, and challenges that they faced.
Results: Pre and post assessment of students’ reflections and responses will be analyzed to determine themes. Current themes for nursing students include:
Understanding and Acknowledging Various Perspectives,
Learning Together and Sharing Experiences, and
Challenges and Successful Outcomes
Conclusion: An inter-professional collaborative team approach benefits all members involved. The university students had the opportunity to engage and work as a team through the Sight for Success project. The students developed an understanding of different perspectives and scopes of practice, and the impact of social determinants on health. Members of the team were able to organize and structure large populations of elementary level students to conduct screenings while integrating and performing new skills. The school district and school nurses benefit as the elementary students’ screenings are conducted in a timely and effected manner. The elementary students benefit when they receive corrective eye-wear earlier in the academic school year which promotes their health and well-being and academic success.
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