This series of guest blogs by my Rutgers – Camden School Nurse Certificate students has been a highlight for me as an instructor. I am thankful for the wonderful Twitter community that has been cultivated over the past few years. My students have been able to connect with the leaders in school health across the country because of the power of social media. Virginia (Ginger) Kueny was linked with Beth Mattey to find out how Beth uses social media to amplify her school nursing practice. Beth has been a national leader in school nursing for several decades. Her leadership has shaped our profession and elevated the profile of school nursing.


Bio: Beth Mattey, MSN, RN, NCSN, FNASN is currently the lead school nurse in the Brandywine School District in Wilmington, Delaware. Throughout her career as a school nurse, she has worked with elementary and high school students, as well as with students with special needs. She has been a Nationally Board Certified School Nurse since 1990.
Beth graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nursing and in 2017 was inducted into the University of Delaware’s Alumni Wall of Fame. She has authored a chapter in all three editions of the award-winning textbook, Selekman’s School Nursing: A Comprehensive Text, as well as written several articles for professional publications. She was a past-president of the National Association of School Nurses and the Delaware School Nurse Association. She was inducted as a Fellow in the National Association of School Nurses in 2018. Beth is currently the co-lead for the Delaware Nurses Action Coalition supporting the goals of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. She has served as the NASN liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health and the liaison to the National Board of Certification for School Nursing.
Beth believes school nurses play a key role in promoting population health by creating a culture of health in the school community. As the advisor for the tobacco prevention club at her high school, Beth helped students spread the tobacco prevention message through multi-media outlets, music, and interactive games traveling throughout Delaware. This peer-led program has received more than $150,000 in grant funding and has reduced the use of tobacco products by teens at the high school by 50 percent since its inception in 2001. Several teens presented the program at the 2003 NASN Annual Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once again, at the 2015 NASN Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Beth was extremely proud to have alumni and current students perform, sharing the tobacco prevention message through music.
