Who dispenses pharmaceuticals to children at school?

Use of both prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals has increased among children. Many of these drugs are taken during school hours and dispensed by school personnel who are not health professionals. They know little or nothing about the drugs themselves or the medical conditions requiring their use. This survey examined the extent to which pharmaceuticals are dispensed in schools in one Florida county. Public elementary, middle, and high schools and six private schools were surveyed for one week. All medications dispensed by school personnel during that time were recorded. Of 28,134 children surveyed, 1,016 children received 5,411 doses of medication. Thirty-one categories of drugs were dispensed including controlled substances. Methylphenidate was the most widely dispensed drug, comprising about half of all the medications given in school. Medication use was evaluated in terms of gender, race, and socioeconomic status of the children.

Anemia as an indicator of nutrition in children enrolled in a Head Start program.

A retrospective chart review was conducted on the records of 467 children who were enrolled in the Head Start program in Alachua County, Florida, which is one of four counties in Florida cited among the 150 worst "hunger counties" in the United States by the Harvard University School of Public Health. The children were examined in the 1989-1990 school year by a team of nurse practitioners, and the data were analyzed to determine the incidence and distribution of anemia. Twenty-five percent of the sample was white, and 75% was black. One half of the white children and 20% of the black children attended schools in rural areas. The mean sample hematocrit value was 35.7%. Twenty-one percent of the sample had hematocrit values of less than 34.0%. More black children were anemic in both rural and urban groups. Black males had the highest rate of anemia at 27.3%; white females had the lowest rate of anemia at 9.8%. These data show that anemia is a serious problem among children from low-income families and suggest that government nutrition programs such as food stamps and WIC are not meeting the needs of these children.