Utah school nurse shortage leave nurses with heavy workloads

Utah school nurse shortage leave nurses with heavy workloads

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A new state report shows Utah's school nursing shortage slightly worsened over the last year, leaving Utah school nurses with six times the recommended students under their care.

The Utah Department of Health reports that Utah had one nurse for every 4,543 students, up from one for every 4,300 students.

That's about six times higher than recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which call for one nurse for every 750 students.

Hiring a nurse for every school would cost $90 million. That's about 10 times what Utah currently spends on school nursing.

Utah Department of Health school nurse consultant BettySue Hinkson says lawmakers are exploring whether Utah should use Medicaid money to pay for nurses and the state school nurse association plans to ask legislators to beef up funding.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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