The Department of Education provides a nursing service that offers a clinical advisory service to all state school staff for students with specialised health needs in years prep to high school. This service includes:
- Developing evidence based nursing Individual Health Plans and or Emergency Health Plans relevant for the school setting.
- Providing best practice professional education and competency based training to staff on specific health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, asthma and anaphylaxis (but not limited to).
- Providing best practice professional education and competency based training to staff on specialised health procedures such as but not limited to, gastrostomy tube feeding, catheterisation, colostomy management, tracheostomy management.
- Risk Assessment and ongoing clinical support for school personnel.
The service builds capacity for school staff to manage both daily and emergency events. The State School Nursing Service work in collaboration with parents/care givers and may request written documentation from the student’s medical practitioner/specialists regarding the student’s medical condition and treatment. This is to assist in formulating a current and relevant Individual and or Emergency Health Plan. Information regarding this can be located on the department's website.
Pine Rivers Special School currently provides an administrative base to Nikki Smith, one of the state school registered nurses in the North Coast region. Nikki provides a service to multiple schools in the local area via the nursing referral procedure. Nikki has been in this role since 2001 and is passionate about providing a timely and thorough service that enables students with specialised health needs to be able to access their educational programmes with their peers.