The General Council of Nursing (CGE) has made public its discomfort at considering that the Ministry of Education has left out school nurses from the new guide aimed at preventing and addressing bullying in schools and institutes, for which it has requested that the document be modified to explicitly include them.
The professional body values that the "Guide for the Design of Protocols for School Bullying and Cyberbullying" adequately presents the restorative response with an intersectional approach and a detailed pedagogical intervention. However, it reproaches that the text omits the clinical-health perspective and does not contemplate the role that school nurses can play in the prevention, detection, and management of bullying.
"School bullying is not just a coexistence problem; it is a health problem that must be addressed with early detection, a task for which school nurses are fully trained. Any strategy that includes early detection, protection, and support for students must maintain a health perspective. Here, school nurses have much to contribute," indicated Florentino Pérez Raya, president of the General Council of Nursing (CGE).
In the same vein, the president of the Spanish Scientific Association of Nursing and School Health (Aceese), Engracia Soler, emphasizes that "the new guide represents a step forward in establishing a common roadmap and focuses on early detection, protection, intervention, and follow-up."
"Precisely for this reason, we believe that it is time to take a further step and formally incorporate the health dimension, and in this, the school nurse plays a fundamental role. If the goal is to detect earlier and always support the health of the minor, the nurse must be part of the entire process, from prevention to follow-up and damage repair," added Soler.
For her part, Itziar Ferragud, president of Amece, the National and International Association of School Nursing, emphasizes that bullying has a strong impact on the overall health of children and adolescents, and warns that "leaving nursing out of the design of a protocol perpetuates a purely punitive or academic view of the problem, hindering agile coordination between the educational center and Primary Care or Mental Health."
The CGE reminds that the very action scheme proposed by Education is not limited to identifying bullying, but includes phases such as detection and communication, information gathering, development of an intervention plan, monitoring and evaluation, among other steps, which, in its opinion, shows that the problem continues beyond the mere confirmation of the facts.
Nursing organizations insist that the violence suffered in childhood impacts numerous areas. "It can cause anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem, it can manifest through headaches or abdominal pain, it can affect academic performance or social relationships, and in the most serious situations, it can increase the risk of self-harm and suicidal behaviors," says the president of Aceese.
Ferragud adds that "many times students do not directly tell what is happening to them, but they go to the Nurse for frequent pains, discomfort, or emotional changes. This allows us to detect signals, assess their state, offer them a safe space, and coordinate care with the family, the educational team, and health services. Furthermore, our work does not end upon detecting the case, but continues with support and follow-up."
They demand formal inclusion in the protocols
The different professional associations point to a lack of knowledge of the functions and competencies of school nurses as one of the main causes of not having included them in the drafting of the guide.
In this regard, the president of Amece states that "the exclusion of school nurses represents a missed opportunity to address the problem from a truly interdisciplinary and public health perspective. We cannot forget the irregular and still scarce distribution of our role in the national territory. Furthermore, in the guide, the term health only appears in the intervention and restoration phase, which shows that the idea remains that health professionals only assist and are necessary to attend in any area, without taking into account the educational or managerial role we possess."
For all this, the Collegiate Organization of Nursing urges the Ministry of Education to review and complete the document so that it expressly includes the participation of school nurses and school reference nurses in the protocols for prevention, detection, intervention, and monitoring of bullying and cyberbullying.
"This incorporation would ensure that the response to these situations effectively considers the assessment and monitoring of the physical and emotional health of the students, as well as the necessary coordination between educational centers, families, and the health system," says Pérez Raya.
The school nurses and school reference nurses, linked to Primary Care, reiterate their request to be included to ensure comprehensive intervention. "We consider it essential to make visible and recognize our role and incorporate our competencies into the coexistence and protection protocols. It is not about replacing other professionals, but about adding competencies and offering a truly interdisciplinary response," concludes Soler.