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Nurses ask board to clarify law on new NEFE nasal‑spray epinephrine: district to house supplies in nurse suites until legislation changes
Summary
School nurses told the Perkiomen Valley board that Pennsylvania law currently permits students to self‑carry epinephrine auto‑injectors but not the new NEFE nasal formulation; district administrative regulations will state NEFE must be housed in the nurse's office and administered by trained staff until state law is amended.
Perkiomen Valley School District nurses asked the board on May 20 for explicit policy language clarifying that recent nasal‑spray epinephrine products (referred to in the meeting as NEFE) are not permitted to be carried and self‑administered by students under current Pennsylvania law, and should instead be kept in school health suites with administration by a nurse or other trained personnel.
Kristen Keibney, the district’s nursing department chair, told the committee that state law currently allows students to self‑carry and self‑administer epinephrine auto‑injectors, asthma rescue inhalers and diabetic supplies, but the new nasal device — which became available in 2024 — is not explicitly covered by the existing statutory language. “The law does not allow it right now until the wording is changed in the legislation,” Kiebney said, explaining that nurses can keep NEFE in their offices for a child with a physician’s order but cannot permit the student to carry or self‑administer it.
Superintendent Doctor Russell and the nurses said the nurses are seeking a brief, clear statement the nurses can show parents and providers when questions arise: that NEFE is a nasal spray, not an auto‑injector, and that under current Pennsylvania law NEFE may not be self‑carried by students. The district’s administrative regulation drafted for the committee makes that point explicitly in the last paragraph, and nurses asked that the AR be included with future meeting materials so they can use it when explaining the district’s position.
Nurses also reported active advocacy in Harrisburg; members of the Pennsylvania school‑nursing community met with legislators to request statutory language changes that would allow self‑carry of nasal epinephrine for appropriately trained and responsible students. “Until the language is changed to change it to an epinephrine device and remove that auto injector, we’re tied,” Kiebney said. The board asked staff to add language in the policy/administrative regulation clarifying current practice — specifically that NEFE is not an auto‑injector and may not be self‑carried — and to include citations or a link to the relevant state statute for use with parents and providers.
No vote was taken to change district policy at the meeting; staff said the administrative regulation would be circulated to committee members and added to next month’s packet for formal consideration.
