This past summer, I had an opportunity to co-author a perspectives piece with Dr. Mary Beth Miotto for the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The article, Empowered or Traumatized? A Call for Evidence-Informed Armed-Assailant Drills in U.S. Schools, reinforced the urgency for an evidence-based approach to school safety drills.
NEJM invited us to continue the discussion through its podcast: Perspectives: Intention to Treat. This podcast, expertly produced by healthcare journalist Rachel Gotbaum, includes my sister, Merri Novell a teacher, Dr. Cornelia Griggs, a pediatric trauma surgeon and researcher, and David Riedman, scientist researcher and founder of the K12 School Shooting Database.
Thank you to Rachel, Merri, Cornelia, and David for participating in this important discussion. There is much work to be done, and it is an honor to do this work alongside deeply committed people who are striving to make our country a safer place for our children and communities.

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“Intention to Treat” is a biweekly podcast offering a behind-the-scenes look at the complicated, perplexing, and fascinating issues facing medicine today.
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September 28, 2023
N Engl J Med 2023; 389:e25
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2308309
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Published by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN, is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently in her 22nd year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. Robin is the Director for New Jersey to the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Board. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past Program Mentor. Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. These awards include, 2019 and 2020 National Association of School Nurses President’s Award, 2018 NCSN School Nurse of the Year, 2017 Johnson & Johnson School Nurse of the Year, and the New Jersey Department of Health 2017 Population Health Hero Award. Robin serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing, where she teaches the next generation of school nurses. She was presented the 2018 Rutgers University – Camden Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award for Part-time Faculty. Robin writes a weekly blog called The Relentless School Nurse. She also writes a monthly column in My American Nurse, the official journal of the American Nurses Association. Robin’s work is included as a case study in The Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030. You can follow Robin on Twitter at @RobinCogan.
View all posts by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
Thank you for sharing this, Robin. It was well done and very relevant. As we’ve discussed, I still believe emergency management programs for schools is the way to go when it comes to school safety. Drills, in and of themselves, are not a comprehensive school safety program, although a lot of schools appear to me to view them as such.
Thank you for sharing this, Robin. It was well done and very relevant. As we’ve discussed, I still believe emergency management programs for schools is the way to go when it comes to school safety. Drills, in and of themselves, are not a comprehensive school safety program, although a lot of schools appear to me to view them as such.
Thank you Ted, I always appreciate your perspective steeped in decades of experience and first hand knowledge.