THE NURSE IN THE SCHOOLS.

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XVI, Issue 2, 1 April 1923, Page 65

THE NURSE IN THE SCHOOLS.

The importance of education as a preparation for citizenship has long been recognised, but it is only comparatively recently that State authorities have realised the equal, if not greater, importance of health, and that the medical inspection of school children has become more or less general. It is true that as early as 1837 a royal ordinance was passed in France which charged the school authorities with the supervision of the children's health, but these early beginnings were not immediately followed by further development, and it was Brussels, in 1874, which first developed a system of school health inspection in the more modern sense of the term. By health supervision of schools is meant the systematic examination of all school children by a qualified physician. Each child entering school is examined immediately before, or at the time of, or as soon as possible after his admission to a public elementary school. The physical examination includes measurement of height, weight, chest circumference ; examination of eyes, ears, nose, throat, teeth, heart, lungs, the skeleton, vertebral column and skin. In the mental examination some form of mental age scale is usually employed as a routine measure to determine the mental capacities and abilities. The so-called "intelligence test," during which the powers of attention and observation, concentration, memory, imagination and reasoning come under review, is an important part of the procedure.

The examination frequently discloses one or more corrigible defect and the physician sends a written report to the parents with recommendations for treatment. Before the introduction of the school nurse, these written reports were often entirely neglected by the parents, nothingwas done to remedy the defects and the work of the doctor was seriously handiped. The advent of the school nurse, hoAvever, has greatly enhanced the success of the medical inspection of school children and her work has proved to be of inestimable value. She supplements the work of the medical inspector and her chief duties may be briefly summarised as follows v — (1) She helps the school physician during the medical examination of the children ; (2) She visits the homes of the children and sees that the doctor's recommendations are carried out. (3) She visits the school regularly for systematic inspection of all scholars. (4) She attends the school clinic which is frequently established in urban districts. (5) She gives health instruction to the children in the schools. That the school nurse must necessarily be a person of superior education and possessed of a pleasing personality is very evident. Her relationship with the doctor must be one of helpful co-operation. She must employ the greatest tact in her relations with the principals and teachers of the school, as upon their goodwill often depends the success of her work. She must gain the confidence of the parents, making them understand the nature of the child's defect or illness, not coercing them to action, but getting their free oonsent to the treatment prescribed. She is able to be of the greatest assistance to the families she visits, as she gains insight into the conditions of their lives and is constantly asked for advice and help even in matters unconnected Avith the child in question.

Children at the receptive school age readily take instruction in matters of hygiene, and can often effect changes in the mode of living at home that could not be brought about by an outsider. In this connection organisations such as the Junior Red Cross, are of [great value and a feeling of friendly rivalry can be created among the classes competing for the best conditions of cleanliness and health. Health as an ideal cannot be held too prominently before children and we find that wherever medical inspection and school inspection have been carried out, epidemics of infectious diseases have been controlled or avoided, the general health of the children has greatly improved, and time lost through illness has been considerably reduced.