MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



PROPORTION OF NURSES TO PUPILS 



Experience in New York, Philadelphia, and other large 

 cities has shown that in the congested districts a nurse should be 

 provided for every 3,000 or 4,000 pupils. With this number of 

 pupils the nurses can do effective and efficient home visiting as 

 well as the work of routine inspection in the schools. In cities 

 of from 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants with a public school enroll- 

 ment of 3,000 to 5,000 the services of one nurse will be found 

 adequate, providing the schools are reasonably near together. 



It must be remembered in this connection that much depends A 

 on the social status of the children. The records of medical in- 

 spection in great cities show that many sorts of physical defects 

 vary in more or less direct proportion with the degree of poverty 

 in the homes of the children. Among such defects are enlarged 

 tonsils, defective nasal breathing, defective hearing, decayed 

 teeth, skin diseases, vermin, and above all, malnutrition. In the 

 poorer sections of cities and in quarters largely peopled with recent 

 immigrants the prevalence of these conditions will require the 

 appointment of more nurses if the work is to be done effectively. 

 With conditions as they now exist in such sections of our greater 

 cities, one nurse for each 2,000 children or even one for each 1,500 

 is none too many. 



RULES FOR NURSES 



The following set of rules issued by the board of education 

 of Newark, New Jersey, embodies most of the features that 

 characterize the best practice in connection with the rules and 

 instructions laid down for the guidance of school nurses. With 

 such modifications as local conditions demand, they will be found 

 satisfactory for use in most communities. 



Rule i. Nurses shall at all times be under the direction of the 

 Supervisor of Medical Inspection. 



Rule 2. Applicants for the position of school nurse shall submit 

 to an oral and written examination and also to a physical examination 

 by the Supervisor of Medical Inspection. All applicants must hold a 

 certificate of graduation from an approved training school for nurses, 

 having a course of not less than two years. 



Rule 3. The salary of each nurse shall be for the first year, $720; 



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