PHYSICAL EXAMINATIONS 



CONDUCT AND RESULTS OF EXAMINATIONS 



Examinations for the detection of physical defects are 

 usually conducted after the school physician has made his regular 

 morning inspection for the detection of contagious diseases. The 

 examinations are made in the physician's special room, which 

 should be at least 20 feet long in order to allow sufficient space for 

 the vision tests. In the older school buildings, where special 

 rooms are not provided, the hallways are frequently utilized as 

 unsatisfactory substitutes. 



The children are brought into the room in groups of three or 

 four, and in making the examination the physician usually begins 

 at the child's head and proceeds downward over the body. The 

 object of the examination is to detect such physical conditions as 

 interfere with the child's health and vitality or militate against his 

 receiving the full benefit of the education furnished by the state. 

 This means that the examinations are purely practical in intent 

 and hence they should avoid unnecessary refinement. For ex- 

 ample, it is futile for the physician to record history as to height 

 and weight unless some real end is to be attained from the study 

 of these data. Again, it is generally useless to make records of 

 physical defects so unimportant that, although their existence can 

 be detected, they do not require attention from the physician, 

 oculist, or dentist. 



The defects which are looked for, and which should be 

 recorded, are defects of teeth, throat, eyes, nose, glands, ears, 

 nutrition, lungs, heart, nervous system, and bodily structure. 



The records of physical examinations show that from one- 

 half to two-thirds of all the children examined are suffering from 

 physical defects sufficiently serious to require the attention of the 

 physician, the oculist, and the dentist. The most important kinds 

 of defects which go to make up these large totals are those of teeth, 

 throat, eyes, and nose. Indeed, these four combined constitute 

 more than four-fifths of all the defects found. Table n, on the 

 following page, presents the data showing the results of physi- 

 cal examinations among more than half a million children in 

 nine American cities. The significance of these data is more 

 clearly shown by referring to Table 12, which presents the same 



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