Primary care conducts health surveys in public schools through the growth and visual acuity programs

The Primary Health Care Corporation announced the implementation of annual growth charts and visual acuity check programs in all public schools in the country, in cooperation and prior coordination with the Non-communicable Diseases Department at the Ministry of Public Health. The Foundation stated that the application of the World Health Organization’s growth charts program targets all public school students from the first to the twelfth grade on an annual basis, pointing out that the program aims to provide a database and build a surveillance system to monitor the growth of school students, and early detection of cases of growth disorders that It may be related to the diet or lifestyle in general, which is represented in weight loss or short stature on the one hand, or weight gain and obesity on the other hand. She pointed out that the School Health Department succeeded in completing the implementation of health surveys for the two programs of growth plans and examination of visual acuity, and the completion of all procedures and requirements necessary for their implementation. male and female students with a rate of (98.1%). She noted that the results of the health surveys of the growth charts program showed that approximately 8 thousand and 226 students have a defect in their growth indicators, and it was found that 43 students suffer from short stature problems, 6 thousand and 817 suffer from obesity problems and 463 suffer from thinness and underweight problems, explaining. 100% of all these students were transferred to health centers to be followed up by doctors specializing in this field and to receive the necessary medical care. She explained that the visual acuity examination program is implemented annually among school students in individual grades from the first to the ninth grade, noting that the program aims at early detection of cases of weakness and defects in visual acuity among students, as school health nursing has received theoretical and practical training on appropriate methods. And the health requirements followed in examining visual acuity, in addition to the mechanism of electronic documentation and the proper transfer of cases discovered for students who suffer from a vision rate less than normal and transferring them to the ophthalmology clinic and the optometry clinic of the Primary Health Care Corporation in order to dispense medical glasses and provide them with appropriate treatment. As for the application and implementation of the visual acuity examination program, the Foundation revealed that the number of targeted students has reached 50 thousand and 65 students, as the visual acuity was measured for 48 thousand and 923 male and female students at a rate of (97.8%), indicating that the results of the surveys revealed 6 thousand and 256 male and female students, which constitutes a rate of (12.8%), suffer from poor visual acuity, and 99.6% of the detected students were transferred to the health centers of the Primary Health Care Corporation for follow-up and to receive the necessary medical care by doctors specializing in ophthalmology and optometry clinics. . The Foundation said that out of keenness to achieve the goals of the program and with the joint cooperation between the Ministry of Public Health and the Primary Health Care Corporation, a training workshop was organized for all school health nurses on how to use devices that measure indicators of growth and body mass indexes recommended by the World Health Organization and write them down on the electronic health file system. for the student. She pointed out that the application of the electronic health files system for students in schools had a prominent role and an apparent impact on the implementation of these two programs and the provision of nursing services in public schools in general, especially that through this program all school health nurses were able to document the results of the two programs and take the necessary measures to transfer them to Health centers electronically and linking them with the institution’s electronic network. The Primary Health Care Corporation confirmed that it was able, through the health files system, to follow up and track the implementation stages of the two programs accurately and effectively, in cooperation with the Department of Health Information Systems in the Corporation, where school nursing follows up on the completion of the transferred students for their treatment plans in health centers to ensure that both programs achieve their goals in relation to Early detection of health imbalances, follow-up on them and take remedial measures in a timely manner.