example, poor Blacks were compared with nonpoor
Blacks for visit rates pertaining to physical health.
Using race as a controlled variable, this analysis
helped to determine the influence of poverty in driving
student visits to school nurses. It was also useful in
comparing the relationship between poverty and race
in making intragroup inferences, such as those
between poor and nonpoor Blacks, Hispanics, Asians,
and Whites.
Results
Twenty-two middle and high school nurses had 51,767
encounters with 12,797 students in the 2005–2006
school year. As Table 2 shows, the majority of visits
(73%) were for physical health reasons. Because many
children present with physical symptoms for social or
emotional problems, this category includes both types
of visits. It is not possible, however, to determine the
percent of physical health visits that are caused by
social or emotional problems. The SNED database
does not require nurses to specify the type of physical
health problem assessed. In descending order, the
next top five reasons for school nurse visits were injuries
(9%); nursing treatments (such as tube feedings,
catheterizations, and nebulizer treatments) (6%);
social/emotional (6%); health screen/rescreen (3%);
and immunizations (2%).
Race, poverty, and school nurse visits
With 15,112 visits, poor Black children (those eligible
for FRPL) accounted for 29% of all visits to school
nurses, making them the most frequent visitors (see
Figs. 1 and 2 for demographic comparisons of student
population and visit percentages).