Articles
Primary Care Physicians and School/Sports Physical Examinations
by David Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP
Every year, I am contacted by school officials in late September because children are unable to attend school or participate in sports because they have not had annual physical exams or sports physicals. By late September, the physicians cannot do the physicals in a timely fashion when their offices are overrun with children suffering from the illnesses that occur when children return to school and start sharing their germs with their classmates. In some situations, we physicians have gone to the schools on Saturdays to offer our services so that at-risk children are not excluded from school because of their failure to meet state medical assessment and immunization requirements. Some years, we appeal to the State to move the deadline dates back so we can have more time to accommodate the substantial number of school-aged children who need physicals. We physicians do not want children to be excluded from school because of their failure to undergo the necessary medical evaluations required by our state – but we only have so many appointment slots in our schedules for physicals when children start getting sick after the start of school.
We physicians also do not want children to have “bare bones” health assessments that are not done by their regular doctors/nurse practitioners/physician assistants; the annual physical exam is an opportunity for health professionals to review the medical history of the children and make sure they do not need immunizations, vision/hearing exams, developmental/behavioral screenings, or laboratory testing as recommended by national physician organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
NOW is the time to schedule physicals for all children! Flu, COVID, and RSV seasons are winding down, and the end of school is in sight. Physicians are not as busy caring for sick children and have time in their schedules to perform the time-intensive school and sports physicals.
Parents, please call your physicians’ offices TODAY and schedule annual physicals so that your children are not told that they cannot attend school or play sports in the Fall because they have not undergone the necessary medical assessments.
“Thanks for your understanding, and for helping us to ensure that no children are denied school entry or sports participation because they have not had mandatory health assessments.
Sources:
David Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP
Founder, Goldsboro Pediatrics
2706 Medical Office Place
Goldsboro, NC 27534
919-734-4736
April 9, 2026
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