Chronic Disease

Managing chronic health conditions can present daily challenges for children and adolescents who spend many hours in school. Some conditions can present emergency situations and need immediate attention. Others can be managed properly with daily monitoring. Some conditions, like uncontrolled asthma, can lead to higher rates of school absenteeism, putting some students at risk for lower academic achievement.

CDC Resources

Managing Chronic Health Conditions in Schools
This webpage provides resources on Asthma, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Food Allergies, Oral Health, and much more.

Virtual Healthy School
CDC’s Virtual Healthy School (VHS) is an interactive tool that shows schools how to support students' health and academic achievement. This tool relies on the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) framework, shown below.

Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC)
WSCC is the CDC’s framework for addressing health in schools. It also emphasizes the connections between health and academic achievement and the importance of evidence-based school policies and practices.  

Other Resources

Serving the Medically Fragile Child in the School Setting
This publication from the American Federation of Teachers is designed to help and highlight the roles of teachers, nurses, administrators, paraprofessionals, and school personnel as they work to meet the needs of children with significant medical conditions. 

School Nurse Chronic Health Assessment Tool (SN CHAT)
The Allergy & Asthma Network provides a tool developed for school nurses by a school nurse, SN CHAT offers tools and resources to help school nurses manage chronic health conditions in the school setting. To access this free resource, add it to the cart to download.

 

Page Updated 1/10/25