Individualized Healthcare Plans
Individualized Healthcare Plans, or IHPs, are an essential part of standardizing practice in a school setting. Since each student has his or her own medical or mental health needs, it is important to design a plan to support the students who are identified by the school nurse to need additional support. These plans are to help maintain consistent, appropriate, and goal-based care to students. They are often accompanied by an Emergency Action Plan as well. Many IHPs start out as templates to be customized according to student need. The following are two templated IHPs and will appear different in the actual clinical setting. The hemophilia plan has obvious purposes, and all students with hemophilia should have a customizable IHP. The one for LBGTQ+ students might not always be used, but is presented as an example of some of the unexpected ways the school nurse must be prepared to support students, as belonging to the LBGTQ+ identity potentially has issues for students that could use the support and attention of the school nurse.