Evaluation of Students' Vision Screening Test by School Nurse

ABSTRACT Health screening in student, such as Visual screening test usually carry out by school nurses in many rural schools in Iran. While students are in the growth age, visual acuity may be affected by growth. A Study was carried out to evaluate vision screening test on students in Hamadan, Iran. A sample of 878 pupils examined by a school nurse using E- Chart. According to the test, children were categorized in two groups of negative and positive. All children having disorder in vision were categorized as positive and a sample of others were refered to an optometrist for more examination and diagnosis. According to the screening test and diagnosis, children were categorized in four groups; true positive, false positive, true negative and false negative. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value calculated for the data. The results showed that the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for disorder in vision was 44.8%, 98.9%, 87.5% and 91.5%, respectively. In a comparison study, sensitivity and specificity increased with ignore of hypermetropia students in the data. In the case, sensitivity and specificity are 68.2% and 99%, respectively. This survey showed low sensitivity E- chart in diagnosis of hypermetropia. It can be concluded that if students having reduced visual acuity by the test, refere to an optometrist is recommended.