0110 The Influence of Changing School Start Times on Frequency and Timing of Nurse’s Visits for Sleep and Nutrition

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Healthy school start times are important for ensuring students obtain sufficient sleep, which may impact other health outcomes. Previous studies have not examined the impact of changing school start times on nurses’ visits related to sleep and nutrition in students in grades K-12 after district-wide changes to delay start times in middle and high school and advance start times in elementary school. Methods Electronic medical record data (reason for student visit and time of visit) were retrieved from nursing offices for elementary (n=44), middle (n=14), and high (n=6) schools. For this study, we included sleep and nutrition visits within the first two hours of the school day in April/May for the year prior (pre-change) and two years after (post-change, follow-up) implementing new school start times. Within each school level (i.e., elementary, middle, high), descriptive statistics examined the number of visits by health category. Results In elementary school, nurse visits increased in the first two hours when school start times were moved from 9:00am to 8:00 am for both sleep (pre-change n=45; post-change n=78; follow-up n=58) and nutrition (pre-change n=30; post-change n=63; follow-up n=48). For middle school, nurse visits slightly decreased in the first two hours of school when start times were moved from 8:00am to 8:50am for both sleep (pre-change n=14; post-change n=11; follow-up n=11) and nutrition (pre-change n=47; post-change n=42; follow-up n=6). High school nurse visits also slightly decreased in the first two hours of school when start times moved from 7:10am to 8:20am for both sleep (pre-change n=16; post-change n=7; follow-up n=7) and nutrition (pre-change n=5; post-change n=5; follow-up n=2). Conclusion While not unexpected, elementary school nurse visits for sleep and nutrition increased when start times were moved earlier. However, at follow-up, visit frequency notably decreased, suggesting that it may take time for families to adjust to the new start times. For both middle and high school students, nurse visits for sleep and nutrition slightly decreased with later start times. More research is needed to determine optimal start times for elementary school students, as healthy start times are essential for adolescent health and well-being. Support (if any) RWJF Evidence for Action (#75277)