Vermont Department of Health - Maternal & Child Health Programs and 6 more... less...
Vermont Department of Health
Vermont Department of Health - AHS Goal 1
Vermont Department of Health - Maternal & Child Health (Diabetes)
Vermont Department of Health - Maternal & Child Health (Asthma)
OLH SHIP-related activities
Organizations
% of VT Public Schools indicating they use their EHR to identify, track, and maintain current individual health plans for students with asthma, diabetes, life threatening allergies, seizures
Current Value
35%
Definition
Story Behind the Curve
Updated: April 2015
Author: Division of Maternal and Child Health, Vermont Department of Health
This is a new performance measure for the Division of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) at the Vermont Department of Health (VDH). Although promotion of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and their usage to serve their student population has been an activity of the VDH School Liaisons (12 public health nurses and a nutritionist located in each of the Office of Local Health district offices that work closely with schools) for some time now. An aggregate of those schools currently following this recommendation has not been done, and because this is a new performance measure, no baseline has been established at this time.
Partners
- Vermont Department of Health Divisions
- Maternal and Child Health
- Health Statistics and Informatics
- Office of Local Health (specifically the VDH School Liaisons located in each of the 12 district offices)
- Agency of Education
- Vermont Chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics
- Vermont Academy of Family Physicians
- Vermont school nurses
- Schools, supervisory unions, and school districts
What Works
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The Department of Health encourages coordination and case management for students with chronic diseases or other special health needs (such as diabetes, life threatening allergies, seizure disorders, and asthma). According to the School Health Services Standards of Practice, documentation, timely and accurate communications with the student, family, school health personnel, and the student’s medical home (and specialists) is important. And all of this can be done efficiently and effectively using an Electronic Health Record. “Documentation of the nursing interventions provided to students with chronic disease who need more complex care and management at schools is crucial for efficient disease management and collaboration with all of the student’s team members”. (NASN position statement on, The School Nurse Role In Electronic School Health Records. School nurses can use their EHR to document the creation of individualized health plans and/or emergency care plans for a student, the training of school staff for delegated responsibilities, care or education discussed with student and or parents related to disease management and self-care skills, and referrals made to other health care professionals. The school’s EHR protects the student’s health information from being accessed by those that should not have access to it (Federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance). EHRs are designed to improve work flow in a school health office, improve information exchange, and support quality assurance and improvement efforts. Their reporting capacity supports these efforts, and assists the school nurse in completing other aggregate reporting requirements (such as the Vermont School Nurse Report and the Annual Immunization Status Report). |
Action Plan
The Department of Health added two questions to the 2014-2015 Vermont School Nurse Report in order to establish a baseline. These questions capture the number of schools that currently use their EHR to identify, track, and maintain current individual health plans for students with asthma, diabetes, life threatening allergies, and seizures.
- Does this school have an electronic health record?
- Does the school nurse at this school use the Electronic Health Record to identify, track and maintain current individual health care plans for students with asthma, diabetes, life-threatening allergies, or seizures?
The Department of Health will continue to promote EHRs and their use in schools, during education and outreach opportunities, as well as through regular school interactions.
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