Comparison of vision screening by lay and professional personnel

A previously described vision screening procedure was administered to 652 elementary school children, using lay volunteers. These students were later screened by optometrists, using the Modified Clinical Technique (MCT). Using MCT as the standard, the lay screening correctly identified 90% of the children; the incorrect identifications included 28 children (4.3%) as false negatives and 36 children (5.5%) as false positives. Analysis indicates a lower cost for the combined lay and professional screening than for professional screening alone.