V. Periodic Health Examinations and Multiple Screening

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Abstract
The periodic health examination continues to be the ideal basis for the practice of preventive medicine. In the health supervision of pregnant women and young children great strides have been made toward the achievement of this ideal in the United States. The modern pediatrician may be the prototype for the future family doctor. However, to reach this ideal of periodic health examinations for all members of the family, and continue it into old age, will require a substantially higher ratio of physicians to population than now exists in the United States. In the meantime multiple screening is increasingly recognized as a contribution to preventive medicine and to good medical practice. It represents a practical means for early detection of important diseases and impairments. Screening, while definitely not a substitute for a health appraisal by a physician, does facilitate discovery of disease in asymptomatic stages among persons who would not otherwise have this benefit. It also provides an excellent opportunity for health education and develops the patient-physician relationship. Many persons select a personal physician as a direct result of multiple screening. Many individuals, about one-half of all those whose receive the service, are referred to their own physician for diagnostic study and any needed treatment. Multiple screening appears at present to be the only economically feasible approach on a mass scale to early detection of chronic disease.

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