Public health nursing in schools: perceptions of public school administrators.

In localities throughout the country, in lieu of school nurses, nursing services are provided to county schools by public health nurses. The multiple demands placed upon these nurses and counties' fund limitations suggested this study of school administrators' perceptions of nursing responsibility and nursing activities. Administrators of elementary, middle, and high schools were surveyed by questionnaire as to (1) area(s) of nursing responsibility they considered most important and (2) their rank ordering of importance of individual nursing activities. Supervision activities related to communicable disease and immunization garnered the highest ratings. The only significant difference in ranking between groups of administrators was that health counseling for students was ranked higher by high school administrators, whereas health education for parents was ranked higher at the elementary level.