A Look at Our Commitment to Preventing

Drug Abuse Among Youth

The National Association of School Nurses

Leading worldwide expert for school health services

501c3 non-profit organization representing 15,000 school nurses

School Nurses

Foundation of health care in schools Trusted by students and parents Logical – yet untapped prevention

agents

Are nurses employed in schools today?

NASN’s 2007 School Nursing Study (conducted in over 1,000 school districts) reported school nurses at least part time in 75.1% of all schools

Disparities between states and within states Nurse-to-student ratios Number of bachelor-prepared RNs 

Prescription Drug Abuse - Online Survey Results

September 2007 membership survey 1,327 respondents 78% indicated that prescription drug abuse is

a problem in their community Nearly 60% indicated a “growing or significant

problem” 95% indicated they would like to take an

active role in community prevention

NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects

NASN is a signatory on three Open Letters to Parents from ONDCP’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign regarding OTC and Rx drug abuse

Focus Groups and Workshops at NASN’s National Conferences

NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects

  Partnership for Drug-Free America

Strategic Partner for “Time To Talk”

Consulting on Meth 360 Project

NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects

Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and D.A.R.E. America Disseminating & implementing “Helping

Communities Respond to Rx and OTC Abuse”

NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Formalized partnership (as of 1/08) Helping community coalitions with greater

access to schools

NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects

PriCara, a Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Partnering with Synermed Communications to

develop “The Current State of Teenage Drug Abuse: Trend Toward Prescription Drugs”

Online continuing education program and toolkit Supplement to the Journal of School Nursing

(June) Workshop at NASN’s 2008 Conference

Smart Moves, Smart Choices A Prescription Drug Abuse

Prevention Program

March 7, 2008

Key Objective

Help safeguard youth from abuse of prescription drugs

Program Goals

Create innovative content for middle and high school students about the dangers of prescription drug abuse

Put school nurses on the front lines in educating teens about prescription drug abuse

Engage parents and the educational community

Smart Moves, Smart Choices

Program Overview

Four videos for the.Medic, a health and wellness feature of the.News, a daily news broadcast in development by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions

Four-minute news-format videos narrated by journalism graduate

Standards-based Science and Language Arts curricula developed by educators (members of National Science Teachers Assoc., Assoc. for Supervision and Curriculum Development)

Parent video and guidebook

Video SeriesResearch & Content Development

Extensive research, pre-filming/on-camera interviews with educators, scientists, health practitioners, parents and teens. Interviews included:

Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Susan Foster, VP, Director of Policy Research and Analysis,

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

Jay Giedd, MD, Chief of Brain Imaging, National Institutes of Mental Health

Carl Hart, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University

Renee Hobbs, Director, Media Education Lab, Temple Univ. and Founder, Alliance for a Media Literate America

Ralph Lopez, MD, author and adolescent medicine specialist

Video SeriesTopics

Segment One: Myth Busting Segment Two: Defining Prescription Drugs (and

Impact on the Brain) Segment Three: Abusing Prescription Drugs can

Change Your Life Segment Four: Media Literacy and Drug Abuse Segment Five: Guidance for Parents

Pilot Program Segment One: Myth Busting

Reno Valley Middle School, Hutchinson, Kansas

38 seventh-grade students in student advisor science classes

Video segment revisions made based on feedback from teacher and students

Getting the Word Out

NASN press release announcing program (April) Will include findings from NASN membership survey

Publicity campaign to national, grassroots and online media

Education reporters at national and local newspapers Parenting and teen magazines and online news and info sites National and local TV Nursing and education trade press

Direct liaison organizations and public to the.Medic site for video and information about prescription drug abuse

Reaching Hard Hit CommunitiesSchool Assemblies

Significant response to program featured in electronic NASN Weekly Digest – more than 30 school nurses have inquired about program

Hold four school assemblies for teens in areas hard hit by prescription drug abuse

School principals as assembly leaders/school nurses as emcees

Use videos as platform for discussion Feature teen(s) who can relay negative impact of addiction to

prescription drugs Local elected officials; VIPs; local media in attendance

Thank You