Caring for SARDO the Nurse Way

Reynario C. Ruiz Jr. R.N., L.P.T.

Ensuring the survival of Students at Risk of Dropping Out (SARDO) in

their studies is a perennial challenge in all schools in the country. The very
processes of understanding them, getting to the root cause of their problems,
and ultimately resolution comes from two possibilities. These could be when
the wrong problems are identified or the wrong intervention is given.

In research on Lived Experiences of SARDO conducted in 2016 and was

re-conducted in 2019, it was found that SARDO has individually unique cases
due to the varied life experiences of the children. The various reasons
predisposing students to certain risks are broad and are very unique from one
another that individualized intervention is highly desired.

One of the outputs of the SARDO research was a SARDO Care Plan. The
Nurse/Teacher proponent drew inspiration from his nursing experiences in
caring for hospital patients and patterned from a nurses’ Nursing Care Plan
(NCP). The output is named SARDO Care Plan which guides teachers in
developing an individualized, customized, and comprehensive risk management
plan of SARDO. The SARDO Care Plan is anchored to various principles which
makes it a good tool for the management of students at risk. The care plan is
Learner Centered, Evidenced Based, Holistic, Participative, Individualized,
Comprehensive, and Inclusive. The plan also considers dignity and humanity
in the course of planning and it utilizes care pathways and care bundles.

Similar to other plans, the SARDO Care Plan has different phases
namely the Assessment, Diagnosis, Expected Outcomes or the Objectives,
Intervention, Rationale, and Evaluation. In between the phases are steps that
need to be undertaken to facilitate the crafting of the care plan. Each phase
and the steps are thoroughly discussed in the SARDO Care Plan Manual. For
more details please contact reynario.ruiz@deped.gov.ph or at 09095248085.