Scope of nursing work and models of service delivery in Australian primary and secondary schools: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this review is to generate a national picture of the scope of nursing work and models of service delivery in Australian primary and secondary schools.

Introduction: Schools are an important setting for providing health services to school-aged children and youth. Early intervention with identified health needs has the potential to improve health and educational outcomes across the life course. Additionally, many children and young people present with health issues requiring sophisticated management at school. Nurses have worked in Australian schools for more than a century, but there is a lack of clarity about the scope of nursing work and models of service delivery in Australian schools.

Inclusion criteria: The review will include papers describing the work of registered or enrolled nurses in primary and secondary Australian schools providing education to children aged 3-18 years, in urban, regional, and remote areas of all states and territories. Peer-reviewed, non-peer-reviewed, and gray literature, not limited by publication date or language, will be included.

Methods: The review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Databases to be searched will include CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO (all via EBSCOhost), together with ERIC, Informit, and Google. Two authors will independently screen titles and abstracts, and extract data from included papers. Data will be analyzed by state/territory and by education sector (government/non-government) to generate a national picture. The findings will be reported in a narrative synthesis aligned with the review questions.

Review registration: Open Science Framework https://osf.io/6yqrm.