MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



protection of the community. Physical examinations for the 

 detection of non-contagious defects should be conducted by the 

 educational authorities, or at least with their full cooperation, 

 because they are made for educational purposes. The records 

 of physical examinations must be constantly and intimately 

 connected with school records and activities. They do not need 

 to be connected with other work of the board of health. 



At the beginning of the year 1912, seven states had man- 

 datory laws providing for medical inspection, 10 had permissive 

 ones, and in two states and the District of Columbia, medical 

 inspection was carried on under regulations promulgated by the 

 state boards of health and having the force of laws. 



Professor William Osier, the distinguished English physician, 

 is credited with saying in regard to the work of medical inspection 

 in England, " If we are to have school inspection, let us have good 

 men to do the work and let us pay them well. It will demand 

 a special training and a careful technique." 



The school nurse is the most important adjunct of medical 

 inspection. Sh is the teacher of the parents, the pupils, the 

 teachers, and the family, in applied practical hygiene. She is 

 the most effective possible link between the school and the home. 



Dental inspection is rapidly becoming one of the most 

 important branches of medical inspection. First in Germany, 

 next in England, and more recently in the United States, dental 

 inspection has been inaugurated and school dental clinics estab- 

 lished. The work is now being carried on in nearly 200 American 

 cities. 



In terms of financial expenditure, the cheapest sort of 

 medical inspection consists of examinations conducted by teachers 

 for the discovery of defects of vision and hearing. These involve 

 only the added expense of the simple printed material required. 

 Inspection by physicians for the detection of contagious diseases 

 costs about 10 cents per child per year. Systems including both 

 inspections for contagious diseases and examinations to detect 

 physical defects cost on the average about 25 cents per child per 

 year. Where school nurses are employed, the average per capita 



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