title: Behavioral health emergencies managed by school nurses working with adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As members of interdisciplinary teams, school nurses provide behavioral health services. Studies indicate that school nurses may lack sufficient continuing education in adolescent behavioral health and in the management of behavioral health emergencies, specifically. We conducted this study to describe the adolescent behavioral health emergencies managed by school nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from a New Mexico public school nurse workforce survey to describe the involvement of school nurses in managing adolescent behavioral health emergencies. We included all respondents who self-identified as working in a secondary school (N = 186). We conducted descriptive analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two thirds of survey respondents had provided emergency management in the prior school year for child abuse or neglect, depression, and violence at school. Over 40% had provided emergency management for a suicidal student in the prior school year. Although almost 80% of respondents identified "violence at school" as a very important continuing education topic, 40% reported having received continuing education on this topic in the prior 5 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In New Mexico, public school nurses provide substantial amounts of emergency management for adolescent behavioral health problems. Continuing education received by school nurses on behavioral health emergencies may not be commensurate with their clinical responsibilities.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, (mramos@salud.unm.edu), Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, 625 Silver SW, Suite 324, Albuquerque, NM 87102.
authors.forename: Mary M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sapien
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bauer-Creegan
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hine
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Geary
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D004630:Emergencies / Q000451:nursing*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D009516:New Mexico; D017751:Safety Management; D012573:School Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration
keywords: behavioral health; emergency; school nurse; suicide