Caez !1 Cristopher E.

Caez" Wolcott" ENC1102-0038" February 7, 2014" Sports Physicals and Their Role in Pediatric Health" Amy J. Devitt dened genre as a response to a recurring rhetorical situation. Through this denition weve been able to deduce that genres are printed forms of communication that discourse communities for various purposes. In a research paper co-written by Devitt titled, Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Jo Reiff, determined that studying genres allows researchers to learn how text plays a role in the experience of a group. In an example Devitt studied the legal genre of jury instruction, here she was able to nd that there was a gap between the creators of the communal agendas and those who use them. More specically, there was a gap between the specialist and non-specialist." This paper will specically look into a genre used by pediatricians who are conducting sports physicals on patients and by examining and analyzing the paperwork used to record information found during these physicals. We will look into three separate sport physical forms from three distinct locations around the United States and compare and contrast as well as describe what these similarities and differences mean and what purpose they serve in this discourse community." Gathering the Genres! All three of these papers were obtained with relative ease, two of them available online to download. The rst two sports physical exam forms were found through the

Caez !2 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) website, the rst one is the one that is currently approved and distributed by them for pediatricians across the United States to use. The second was also found through the same website but is an older version from 2004 that is no longer distributed or in use with todays pediatricians. The third form was attained from visiting my local pediatricians ofce. " While obtaining all three genres were done with relative ease not all three are as easily accessible. The rst form is very easy to nd by browsing through the AAP website or searching Google for the form and is available for all to nd. The second one however, takes quite a bit of time since it is not currently in use, it has to be searched through Google to nd, and since it is no longer in use it will not be found in the AAP website making it only accessible to the lucky few who actually nd it. The third form was attained by visiting my local pediatricians ofce and requesting a copy of a form used for a physical examination, while it was relatively easy for me to do this, it is only because of my relationship with the pediatrician that she was compliant with my request for my research. Had this been attempted by anyone else, the likelihood of attaining a copy of the form would have been minuscule." Organization and Formatting! When looking over all three forms there are some similarities and differences in how they are all organized and formatted. All three forms are divided into sections, each of which deals with specic types of information that needs to be recorded." The rst and second form start of with basic patient information and medical history; this section is to be lled out by the patient or their parent/guardian. Starting at the top of these sections we can note that there are similarities in the type of questions

Caez !3 they ask, focusing on health questions as well as the patients health history. However, there is one major aspect at the top of the page in form 1 that is not included in form 2; form 1 has provided an area for the person to ll out the medications the patient is taking and all allergies they may have. Since form 1 is an up to date version of the AAP physical examination form this leads us to believe that current medications and allergies have been more prominent in deciding the patients health status. Form 3 however, does not have a section in which the patient, parent/guardian lls out the information or is asked questions, instead it is to be lled out by the physician and its just basic patient information." Form 1 continues on with a section dealing with special needs, if the patient has a disability, information on that disability and assessments on it would be noted by the physician here, forms 2 and 3 do not have this section as most athletes going through a sports physical do not have disabilities." A section on immunizations, development, and laboratory tests is found in form 3, which forms 1 and 2 do not cover. Since this is a form is from a specic doctors ofce and not an organization these sections are included for the physicians benet. They regularly see the patient and keeping up to date on how they are doing developmental wise and internally is very important to well being. While this may not be covered in the other physical exam forms, it is still necessary since it helps the physician identify if there are any illnesses present in the patient unknown to them before their visit." Next is the actual physical examination, in all three forms the same set up is found, to the left is a section of the body, followed by a normal, abnormal, and comments sections for the physician to note what they found. All three forms focus on

Caez !4 fully examining all body parts followed by a clearance statement. Again, each papers font size is different, form 3 being the largest font and form 1 being the smallest." The last section in all three forms is the clearance statement where the doctor makes some notes if necessary and signs their name stating that the patient is healthy/ unhealthy and can/cannot participate in sports whether in school or extra curricular.