Focusing on what matters: Less paperwork, more time with students
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Meet Sarah Coleman, RN, School Nurse at Norfolk Christian Schools. For Sarah, school nursing is about more than just administering medication or tending to injuries.
“It’s about making a difference in a student’s life, making them feel supported and heard, encouraging them, making sure that they feel loved and cared for.”
Her role extends beyond medical care into education and emotional support as well.
“I love not only supporting students but also teaching and educating them.”
Whether it's discussing asthma triggers with students, offering mental health resources, or guiding parents on managing food allergies, Sarah is deeply invested in the wellbeing of every student.
Before August Schools, Norfolk Christian’s health records were all on paper, which made accessing and updating student information difficult.
“Paper charting was tough because we had medical files on students at each physical location.”
Simple tasks like verifying immunization records or answering a parent’s question required flipping through stacks of paper or waiting to be at the right campus.
“I thought there has to be a better way, we need to move to electronic records.”
Sarah and her team set out to find an electronic health record system that would meet their needs. At a school nurse conference, they were introduced to August Schools.
“We looked at August as well as another EHR. We compared the two and liked what we heard with August. It seemed like it had more features that would be useful to us in our clinic setting.”
One of the biggest differentiators was the immunization feature.
“I have a friend who’s a nurse at a local school and they use the other EHR, so I was able to look at the way she charts and the immunizations. There were some nice features, but what August offered was better for our needs.”
Since implementing August Schools, Sarah has seen a dramatic improvement in efficiency and communication.
“The clinic visits are so easy to document. It’s such an easy one-click for students who come every day for medicines, which is great. It’s a lot less time spent charting and more time spent with the patients, which I like.”
Another key feature has been parent communication.
“We really love the communications with parents, the ease of just being able to message them through the portal. It’s easy to keep track of communications with parents and it’s easy for parents to upload forms.”
August Schools has also made it easier for teachers to access essential health information on field trips, eliminating the need for printing and carrying paper records.
Beyond documentation and parent communication, August Schools has strengthened collaboration among Norfolk Christian’s student support staff.
“I love that we can share encounters. I’ve shared an encounter with the lower school nurse if it's someone I saw down there that she needs to know about.”
“I use it a lot to share with the athletic trainer. Being here at the upper school, we get a lot of sports injuries. We can tag each other in the visits, which is really nice. It definitely helps improve communication.”
One of the biggest benefits of August Schools has been the ability to shift focus from paperwork to student care.
“The quicker and easier documentation allows me to have more time to be present with the students, which is great.”
Tasks that once required manual effort, like immunization tracking, are now automated.
“Before, we were hand writing immunization dates on paper charts, now with August, dates are uploaded directly from the student's immunization record.”
“We double check dates and August lets us know right away if the student is missing any immunizations or is compliant. It's a huge time saver. It allows us to spend more time with students.”
When asked if she would recommend August Schools to other school nurses, Sarah doesn’t hesitate:
“I would definitely recommend August, hands down. It’s been a great change for our school. It’s a time saver and a huge convenience factor for staff and for parents as well.”
“It’s helped make our job easier and has helped us handle the volume of patients because the paperwork is not as tedious.”
With August Schools, Sarah and her team at Norfolk Christian have gained more time back in the day to focus on what truly matters—caring for their students.