The Journal of School Nursing2025, Vol. 41(4) 524–525© The Author(s) 2025Article reuse guidelines:sagepub.com/journals-permissionsDOI: 10.1177/10598405251335921journals.sagepub.com/home/jsn
Artificial intelligence (AI), encompassing machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and natural language processing (NLP), is increasingly permeating various sectors, revolutionizing both health care and education. As this technology advances, school health professionals require clear guidance on implementing AI in their practice with ethical consideration, attentive care, and appropriate safeguards, while maintaining compassionate service. This position brief offers a comprehensive overview of AI applications in school nursing, exploring its potential benefits and addressing the challenges that may arise during its integration into school health services.
The integration of AI in school healthcare settings is attractive as it can be particularly beneficial in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of school nurses. As the demand for mental, social, and physical health support among students grows, school nurses are faced with increased challenges.
(1) Increasing Workloads: School nurses often face high caseloads, managing multiple health issues from chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes to mental health challenges.
(2) Health Data Management: School nurses are responsible for maintaining health records, identifying, and monitoring trends, and ensuring compliance with regulations.
(3) Mental Health Crises: The rise in mental health challenges among students has led to increased pressure on school nurses to provide timely support and interventions (Kaskoun & McCabe, 2022).
(4) Resource Limitations: Many schools face budget constraints, leading to a shortage of nursing staff and resources.
(1) Health Monitoring and Alerts: AI-driven tools could analyze data from wearable devices or student health records to identify early warning signs of medical issues (e.g., asthma attacks, seizures, or even mental health crises), allowing school nurses to intervene proactively.
(2) Streamlined Administrative Tasks: AI could assist with managing student health records, automating paperwork, and ensuring compliance with health regulations, freeing up time for nurses to focus on direct care.
(3) Mental Health Support Tools: AI-powered mental health applications could offer screening tools that help identify students who may be at risk for anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges. These tools could also offer immediate interventions, such as chatbots providing counseling in the absence of a nurse.
(4) Data Analytics for Health Trends: AI systems could analyze large sets of data to detect patterns and trends in student health, allowing for more targeted interventions (e.g., recognizing an increase in flu symptoms across the student body).
(5) Personalized Health Plans: AI could assist in creating individualized health plans by considering data on a student’s medical history, behaviors, and environmental factors.
Challenges and Considerations
School nursing practice is built upon ethical foundations and is grounded in the NASN core values of child well-being; diversity, equity, and inclusion; excellence; innovation; integrity; leadership; and scholarship (NASN, 2020). There are several issues that remain at the heart of AI that cause concern.
(1) Privacy and Security: The use of AI in healthcare and education involves handling sensitive student health information, raising concerns about data security and privacy. Ensuring compliance with regulations such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is crucial. The school nurse is responsible for complying with applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, ordinances, executive orders, policies, and any other applicable sources of authority, including any applicable standards of practice (NASN, 2016).
(2) Ethical Considerations: The implementation of AI in healthcare must adhere to stringent ethical standards, ensuring that these tools do not perpetuate biases in education, healthcare delivery, or mental health assessments. Guided by the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (Fowler, 2015), the nursing profession places caring and compassion at the heart of the nurse-patient relationship. The American Nurses Association (ANA) advocates for the judicious use of AI in nursing practice, emphasizing that it should enhance, rather than compromise, the profession’s core values and ethical obligations; any AI application that undermines these principles should be carefully scrutinized, and integrated only if it can be done without jeopardizing essential values (ANA, 2022).
Nurses must remain vigilant to ensure that advanced technologies do not erode the human interactions central to their profession. It is imperative for nursing professionals to proactively evaluate and anticipate the impact of AI on healthcare, emphasizing their agency, caring approach, and influence over the development and application of these technologies (Archibald & Barnard, 2018). To support optimal health outcomes, nurses must educate themselves about AI to effectively dispel myths, alleviate concerns, and provide accurate information to patients and their families. This proactive approach ensures that nurses maintain their crucial role in shaping the future of healthcare technology while preserving the essential human elements of their practice.
(1) Equity and Accessibility: While AI can enhance healthcare delivery, it is essential to ensure equitable access to these technologies across all school settings, particularly in underserved communities. It is of concern that the use of AI will increase the disparity of resources already seen between schools.
(2) Training and Implementation: School nurses need appropriate training to use AI tools effectively. Additionally, AI should be seen as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for clinical judgment and care.
Cautious Investment in AI Tools for Schools: Allocate resources to develop and implement AI technologies that assist school nurses while ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards.
Professional Development: Provide school nurses with training to effectively integrate AI into their daily responsibilities.
Collaboration with Stakeholders: Involve school nurses, school administrators, healthcare professionals, parents, and policymakers in discussions around AI implementation to address concerns and ensure community buy-in.
Continuous Monitoring: Regularly assess AI impact on student health outcomes and nurse workloads to make necessary adjustments.
By carefully integrating AI into the school health services ecosystem, we can empower school nurses to better serve students’ physical and mental health needs.
National Association of School Nurses11 NASN, MD, USAnasn@nasn.org
Adopted: December 2024
All position briefs from the National Association of School Nurses will automatically expire 18 months after publication unless renewed and recommended for position statement or other NASN document development.
Kim Granados, CAE – NASN Chief Program Officer
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
Traci Jones, PhD, MS, RN
Wendy Niskanen, MEd, RN
Kimberly Granados https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0912-6908
American Nurses Association (2022). The ethical use of artificial intelligence in nursing practice. https://www.nursingworld.org/∼48f653/globalassets/practiceandpolicy/nursing-excellence/anaposition-statements/the-ethical-use-of-artificial-intelligence-innursing-practice_bod-approved-12_20_22.pdf
Archibald, M. M., & Barnard, A. (2018). Futurism in nursing: Technology, robotics and the fundamentals of care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(11-12), 2473–2480. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14081
Fowler, M. D. M. (2015). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. American Nurses Association. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/ethics/code-of-ethics-for-nurses/coe-view-only/
Kaskoun, J., & McCabe, E. (2022). Perceptions of school nurses in addressing student mental health concerns: An integrative review. The Journal of School Nursing, 38(1), 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405211046223
National Association of School Nurses. (2016). NASN Code of Ethics. https://www.nasn.org/nasn-resources/codeofethics#
National Association of School Nurses. (2020). About NASN. https://www.nasn.org/AboutNASN
