This application helps to facilitate interactions with parents and guardians whose primary language isn’t English.

Research (for example, by Basch, Davis and colleagues, and others) identifies that students with access to regular physical and mental health services experience fewer absences, have improved social and emotional growth, are less likely to participate in risky behaviors, attain higher academic achievement, and experience better health and overall well-being. To achieve and maintain these desired outcomes, students require excellent communication and connection with myriad stakeholders, including school nurses, who work on the frontlines supporting the student and acting as a nexus to parents and guardians, school faculty and administrators, and healthcare providers. Of all the interactions school nurses have, none is more vital than that with a student’s family. Critical to supporting this interaction is timely, effective, and efficient communication.

Communication challenge

Although many options exist for school health office personnel and a student’s parents or guardians to communicate, phone calls may seem the simplest and most direct. If a call isn’t answered, leaving a message serves as an excellent backup. However, if the primary spoken language by the school’s health office staff and a student’s family differs, then the phone call solution no longer serves as the best option.

Exacerbating this challenge is the lack of funding for public schools to contract for immediate, on-demand translation services. This begs the question: What options are available to help school health offices move forward when they must quickly inform a non-English speaking parent or guardian that they need to pick up their child due to an event such as illness, injury, medication concern, immunization deficiency, or an emotional issue?

Solution

An answer to the question rests within three facts: The Pew Research Center identified that 97% of Americans own a cell phone with texting capability. All school health offices have computer workstations, laptops, or similar devices with internet access and texting capability (if they also have the appropriate software applications). Many translation applications, such as Google Translate (translate.google.com), offer free text translation services for numerous languages.

Using most conventional translation applications can prove labor- and time-intensive, especially during an interactive, real-time dialogue. However, a relatively new application developed by TalkingPoints, a 501c3 non-profit organization, uses an integrated artificial intelligence (AI) protocol that automatically converts text to different languages, thus allowing for seamless texting between workstations and cell phone users (talkingpts.org).

TalkingPoints developed out of a need for teachers to communicate about a child’s academic progress with families whose primary language isn’t English. The application has since expanded as a potentially primary and meaningful school health office tool. It’s important to highlight that texting students’ families doesn’t violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and that the TalkingPoints app complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). School nurses must be prepared to educate district and building-level administrators, faculty, and other school professionals about texting as an appropriate mode of communication under HIPPA and FERPA regulations.

TalkingPoints offers several advantages over other workstation text translation applications. For example, nonintegrated translation apps require numerous steps while the integrated AI protocol of TalkingPoints requires only four. In addition, TalkingPoints automatically creates contact lists and communication retention logs, which simplify future communications and history lookups, respectively. (See Texting option comparisons.)

We performed a qualitative evaluation of the translation accuracy for the applications investigated. The evaluation found that regardless of the texting method, users should keep statements simple, direct, and succinct to help ensure translation accuracy. In particular, avoid using euphemisms, colloquial expressions, and slang.

A top priority

Clear communication among school health offices and school staff, students’ healthcare providers, and families plays a key role in maintaining a child’s overall physical, social, emotional, and mental health and well-being. All of these factors serve an important function in a student’s academic success and progression as they transition through childhood and adolescence into early adulthood. Solutions to overcoming the challenge presented by communicating with families whose primary language isn’t English include the school’s use of applications such as TalkingPoints. Schools also can use the app to text with English-speaking families.

Supporting the health, overall well-being, and success of students remains a top priority for school health offices, educators, and administrators. Effective and efficient communication with families remains vital to that effort.

The authors work at Croton Harmon Union Free School District in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Charles Robert Davis is a professional school nurse. Michael Plotkin is a principal. Nichole Kelly is an assistant principal. Nadeem Zoha is a guidance counselor.

References

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Matingwina T. Health, academic achievement and school‐based interventions. In: Bernal-Morales B, ed. Health and Academic Achievement. IntechOpen. 2018. intechopen.com/chapters/62994/

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TalkingPoints. Privacy, security, and accessibility. talkingpts.org/privacy-and-security

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule apply to an elementary or secondary school? July 26, 2013. bit.ly/3Iyr48r

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. School readiness. headstart.gov/school-readiness/article/healthy-children-are-ready-learn

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