CHAPTER VII 

 RESULTS 



DEFINITE information as to the actual results achieved by 

 medical inspection for the detection and correction of 

 physical defects is exceedingly meager. Superintendents 

 and health officers frequently state in their annual reports that 

 the response of parents to notifications is unsatisfactory, and urge 

 the adoption of more effective follow-up methods. Where nurses 

 have recently been installed, satisfaction is generally expressed 

 and the statement made that a marked increase of co-operative 

 action has resulted. Definite statistical evidence is, however, rarely 

 offered with regard to any phase of the problem. 



The success of a system of medical inspection of schools is 

 to be measured by the results achieved. The mere piling up of 

 statistical data as to defects would be valueless unless action of 

 some sort followed. In printed reports, the meaning attached to 

 the word "results" is the crux of the whole matter. In most 

 cases where any mention is made of results secured it takes the 

 form of "treatments reported/' "attention given/' or "physician 

 consulted." Occasionally some detail is entered into, as the num- 

 ber of pairs of glasses obtained or the number of operations per- 

 formed. Very rarely a notation as to improvements following 

 treatment is made. 



The type of report on results which a school physician 

 makes is naturally determined by his conception of the function 

 of his office. On the side of results, four possible functions may be 

 formulated : 



1. To bring parents to the point of taking their children to a 

 physician or dentist, clinic or hospital. 



2. To ascertain whether the consultation is a genuine one and 

 whether appropriate treatment has been instituted. 



3. To ascertain, where no treatment or inadequate treatment only 



