MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 

 THE NURSE IN AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS 



DUTIES 



The functions of the school nurse are most varied in different 

 communities and include duties which range from the reporting 

 of cases of truancy to diagnosing contagious diseases two extremes, 

 neither of which properly falls within the purview of her work. 

 In general her duties may be concisely summarized as follows: 



1. In the school: 



(a) Making routine examinations of children to detect those cases 

 which should be referred to the school physician. 



(b) Assisting the physician in making physical examinations and 

 recording results. 



(c) Acting in emergency cases such as caring for accidents, ban- 

 daging cuts, removing splinters, caring for cases of fainting, convulsions, 

 and the like. 



2. In the home: 



(a) Explaining to parents the significance of the notices sent by 

 the school physicians concerning the condition of their children and aid- 

 ing the parents in securing remedial action. 



(b) Instructing and educating parents in the practices of applied 

 hygiene. 



3. In the clinic: 



(a) Assisting the physicians in treatments and operations. 



(b) Leading the children to view the proceedings of the clinic as 

 diverting experiences rather than terrifying ordeals. 



QUALIFICATIONS 



The history of school nursing shows its continual extension 

 into wider and wider fields, and its constantly increasing demands 

 for unusual qualifications on the part of the workers. In a techni- 

 cal sense the work is not really nursing at all, but it calls for a 

 skill and knowledge acquired only in the training schools for nurses, 

 and demands in addition qualifications which can at present be 

 secured only in the school of experience. 



It is a safe rule that no school nurse should be employed who 

 is not a graduate of a training-school of recognized high standing. 



