MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



as that of Dr. Holmes. So far as is known, the only strictly 

 school clinics conducted in the United States are the dental 

 clinics in Rochester, Cincinnati, Muskegon, Philadelphia, and 

 Elmira, and the eye clinic in Cleveland. The time is undoubt- 

 edly at hand, however, when some solution to the pressing prob- 

 lem created by needy children left untreated must be sought out 

 and applied. Frank facing of the problem is needed if medical 

 inspection is to fulfill the hopes of its friends. 



SUMMARY. Invitations to parents to be present at examina- 

 tions of children, follow-up visits by nurses, arrangements for 

 children to attend hospitals and clinics, the establishment of 

 office hours when medical supervisors may be consulted by parents, 

 and the education of the community through printed bulletins 

 explaining the nature and importance of defects, are five measures 

 of great value in rendering medical inspection effective. 



Mere notifications of defects, unsupplemented by such 

 measures as the above, can never be expected to secure more than 

 a small proportion of the treatments needed. The possibilities 

 of increasing the effectiveness of medical inspection by legal 

 measures to compel neglectful parents to take action have not 

 yet been thoroughly tested in this country, but the working of 

 Colorado's experiment along this line is worth study. 



The presence throughout the schools of the country of large 

 numbers of children whose parents cannot afford to pay current 

 rates for treatment creates a problem which is pressing for solution. 

 The suggestion that dental and medical school clinics be estab- 

 lished to deal with this class of cases will increasingly demand the 

 attention of school authorities who are dissatisfied with the 

 inadequate returns secured by present systems of medical inspec- 

 tion. 



