Screening for defects among school children

Abstract Since World War II screening procedures have been re-emphasized in school health programs as a more realistic and effective method of locating children with health problems. Coincidentally with this shift in emphasis there has been an effort to use the time of physicians for precise medical diagnosis, interpretation of the problems to the school staff, and formulation of a plan to carry oyt definitive treatment needed. Current school health screening procedures are a judicious mixture of continuous subjective observation on the part of both classroom teacher and nurse and objective methods such as vision and hearing tests, graphic recording of height and weight, psychometric and reading readiness tests. The cumulative health record of each child is an important aspect of this process. By and large, emphasis is on the observations of the nurse and teacher rather than on techniques and mechanical devices. Data from the latter are pooled with all other information and appraised by the teacher and nurse who then reach a decision as to whether or not to refer the child for further medical study by the family physician or the school clinic depending on the circumstances. Exprerince in the Washington County School Health Demonstration and elsewhere strongly suggests that the emphasis on the type of screening process described is producing encouraging results in terms of the variety and number of pathologic conditions discovered, many of them in early stages. The shift in emphasis toward focusing the energy toward focusing the energy of the medical profession on careful definitive diagnosis, prompt treatment, and planning for a regimen of total care in long-term cases has been a most refreshing step forward.