CHAPTER VIII 

 PER CAPITA COSTS AND SALARIES 



SINCE systems of medical inspection vary in scope from 

 vision and hearing tests conducted by teachers to complete 

 physical examinations conducted by physicians, and because 

 the attendant expense may range anywhere from the slight cost 

 of printed material supplied to teachers to high salaries paid 

 physicians and nurses, it follows that generalizations concerning 

 per capita costs must be somewhat indefinite. 



COST OF INSPECTION FOR CONTAGIOUS DISEASE 

 The sort of medical inspection which has for its object the 

 discovery of incipient cases of contagious disease and their exclu- 

 sion from school, is in reality merely an extension of the work 

 which has been done by boards of health. It is not inherently 

 expensive in terms of time or money. In most cities the work is 

 carried on by having the school physicians call each day, or two 

 or three times a week, and inspect the children referred to them 

 by the teachers as seeming to be in ill health, or who have returned 

 to school after an unexplained absence. In most cases, the 

 physician comes at stated times, without being notified. In 

 some places the less efficient method is followed of having the 

 principal notify the physician by telephone when he is wanted. 

 The annual per capita cost for this sort of medical inspection 

 averages about 1 3 cents. 



COST OF VISION AND HEARING TESTS GIVEN BY TEACHERS 



By far the least expensive of all systems are those consisting 

 solely of examinations conducted by teachers for the detection 

 of defects of vision and hearing. They are prescribed by state 

 law or regulation in Massachusetts, Colorado, Indiana, Maine, 



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