NURSING ROLES The role of school nurses in delivering accessible health services for primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong Regina LT Lee Aims. To explore and describe the distinctive role of nurses in delivering school health services for primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong. Background. The practical responsibility of nurses in delivering school health services has not been established. There is no literature on this topic and, in particular, nothing has been written from the perspective of the practitioner in communities in Hong Kong. Design. A qualitative design using semi-structured interviews was employed. Methods. Thirteen school nurses were recruited and interviewed in 2006. The narratives were analysed using content analysis steps to identify categories. Results. Seven categories were formulated. School nurses described their roles as providers, counsellors, leaders, promoters, collaborators, referrers and administrators and housekeepers. The school nurses also reported that they needed to maintain a diverse range of skills and knowledge, such as effective communication skills and clinical updated knowledge, to cope with the demands and the diversity of their roles and to support the health and educational needs of the students and their local communities. Conclusion. The future development of the ‘one school, one nurse’ policy envisaged by the current government for ordinary schools in Hong Kong will not occur unless the role of school nurses is clearly delineated and valued by society as reducing school children’s and adolescents’ risk-taking behaviours and promoting the health and well-being of school children and adolescents. Relevance to clinical practice. The findings provide relevant information for school nurse leaders and school nurse policy makers to understand how school nurses are practicing and promoting child and adolescent health services, which can inform regional and national policy and practice. Key words: children, health promotion, Hong Kong, nurses, nursing, school Accepted for publication: 11 August 2010 Introduction The school nursing service is a vital component of the services required for the health and safety of school children while at school. The role of the school nurse encompasses both health and educational goals. There is a significant relationship between school nurse availability and the educational success of primary and secondary school students (Lightfoot & Bines 2000, Geierstanger et al. 2004). However, although the role of the school nurse has been studied in the West (Tossavainen et al. 2004, Piercy & Hayter 2007, Hayter et al. 2008) and nearby Asian countries such as Taiwan and Korea (Clark 2004, Yoo et al. 2004, Chang et al. 2009, Williams 2009), little is known about the Author: Regina LT Lee, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China Correspondence: Dr Regina LT Lee, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. Telephone: (852) 2766 6388. E-mail: hsrlee@inet.polyu.edu.hk 2968 Ó 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20, 2968–2977 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03782.x