Are we teaching school health in residencies?

A school health survey was distributed to all family practice residency programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. The intent of the survey was to measure the degree to which residency programs include education on school health issues in their curriculum. The items on this survey measured four general areas: identification of family practice residency programs with school health components, curricular development, resident and faculty involvement, and the rationale for the lack of involvement of residency programs. The results of the survey indicate that approximately one-third of the residency programs presently have a school health component in their curriculum. Preschool physicals and sports medicine are the most popular activities within family practice residency programs. It was further determined that there is little question of the perceived importance of school health, but the question still remains as to what is the most efficient and effective manner of teaching residents these valuable skills.