Pediatric Multiphasic Program

THE pediatric multiphasic program has been in operation at the offices of the Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, San Francisco, since February 1967. Multiphasic has been defined as the administration of several screening tests at one visit. 1 The concept of multiple screening tests has been accepted for many years, and the history of the concept has been described and its current modifications noted by J. M. G. Wilson. 2 The many technological advances that have enhanced computer applications in medicine in recent years have made multiphasic testing feasible. M. F. Collen and associates 3 describe in detail the rationale and methods of the automated multiphasic screening program for disease detection among adults. The success of the periodic multiphasic health examination of adults, available at KaiserPermanente since 1951, 4,5 made an extension of the program into pediatric age groups both practical and logical. The pediatric multiphasic program combines