Who benefit from school doctors’ health checks: a prospective study of a screening method

BACKGROUND: School health services provide an excellent opportunity for the detection and treatment of children at risk of later health problems. However, the optimal use of school doctors’ skills and expertise remains unknown. Furthermore, no validated method for screening children for school doctors’ assessments exists. The aims of the study are 1) to evaluate the benefits or harm of school doctors’ routine health checks in primary school grades 1 and 5 (at ages 7 and 11) and 2) to explore whether some of the school doctors’ routine health checks can be omitted using study questionnaires. METHODS: This is a prospective, multicenter observational study conducted in four urban municipalities in Southern Finland by comparing the need for a school doctor’s assessment to the benefit gained from it. We will recruit a random sample of 1050 children from 21 schools from primary school grades 1 and 5. Before the school doctor’s health check, parents, nurses and teachers fill a study questionnaire to identify any potential concerns about each child. Doctors, blinded to the questionnaire responses, complete an electronic report after the appointment, including given instructions and follow-up plans. The child, parent, doctor and researchers assess the benefit of the health check. The researchers compare the need for a doctor’s appointment to the benefit gained from it. At one year after the health check, we will analyze the implementation of the doctors’ interventions and follow-up plans. DISCUSSION: The study will increase our knowledge of the benefits of school doctors’ routine health checks and assess the developed screening method. We hypothesize that targeting the health checks to the children in greatest need would increase the quality of school health services. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03178331, date of registration June 6 (th) 2017. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3295-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.