School Health Screening Systems

Book excerpt: Ensuring optimal health for school children is a fundamental concern shared by families, teachers and the wider community. Medical practitioners, allied health professionals, educators and policymakers regularly collaborate in the first stage of attaining this goal--in the early detection of childhood diseases and disorders through school health screenings. The value of this inter-professional practice is well recognized on a global scale, with school health screenings having a long history in all industrialized countries. Each year, millions of school children are screened for a wide variety of potential disorders, and many children are treated for disorders that might otherwise have gone undetected. This book is an important new book that examines elementary school screening programs from a number of perspectives. The history of school screenings and the ethical principles surrounding them are outlined, in addition to the methods by which screening program performance can be gauged. The common health disorders associated with young school children are comprehensively reviewed. Detailed chapters, written by international experts, are dedicated to specific school screening programs currently in place in developed nations, with each chapter signposting future directions for the field. For example, the chapters on school hearing screenings, dental health screenings and speech pathologist screening assessments provide in-depth descriptions of the individual screening programs, screening tests, result interpretation, personnel and equipment requirements and directions for system improvements. Topical issues that are currently of concern for all school health professionals--optimal communication of screening test results to families and the need for integrated, non-discipline specific, data systems--are discussed in the final section of this book. For those working in the area of elementary school health screening, this book provides comprehensive information on school-based screening programs in a single up-to-date volume. This book will enable education and health professionals to better understand the whole school screening process and the role of other professionals in this highly worthwhile process.