THE SCHOOL NURSE 



of results with respect to four specified kinds of physical defects. 

 The data are presented in Table 18. 



TABLE l8. RESULTS OBTAINED BY MEDICAL INSPECTORS AIDED AND 

 NOT AIDED BY SCHOOL NURSES. PHILADELPHIA, 



A comparison of the figures in the percentage columns shows 

 that where the inspector was aided by a nurse, 80 per cent of the 

 cases received treatment as contrasted with only 2 1 per cent where 

 he was without such aid. The investigation covered the same 

 period of time in the two cases and the defects existed among 704 

 children in the school where the inspector was aided by a nurse, 

 and among 75 1 children where he was not aided by a nurse. 



While the comparisons presented in the foregoing tables 

 constitute an impressive argument in favor of utilizing the services 

 of a school nurse to increase the effectiveness of medical inspection, 

 they must not be accepted as giving a true measure of the value of 

 such services. We must not interpret them as meaning as the 

 figures would seem to show that medical inspection with a nurse 

 is three or four times as effective as medical inspection without a 

 nurse. In the case of the per cent shown in the first table we are 

 not certain as to the character of the "results" reported, and in 

 studying both comparisons it must be borne in mind that they 

 represent reports of special studies made with the object of demon- 

 strating the effectiveness of the nurse's work. Nevertheless, the 

 comparisons are of value in showing that the effectiveness of medi- 

 cal inspection is definitely and distinctly enhanced when the work 

 of the school physician is supplemented by that of the school nurse. 



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