G Bottaro1. 1. Catania University, Italy. gebotta@tin.it
Abstract
AIM: Italian family pediatrician (FP) represents a unique example of global medical assistance for children throughout the world. Their role, however, is not fully known because appropriate feedback has not developed to evaluate the impact of FP's care on childhood disease morbidity. METHODS: This study contains a report of the daily activity of a FP, during the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 to create a picture of the current situation in the Italian medical health system that deals with children. Results have demonstrated that the mean number of yearly visits is 3 293±351, the mean routine health-checks is 952±60 and the mean number of yearly access is 4 245±391. The mean number of daily visits is 4.5±0.3 for routine health-checks and 15.5±1.5 for the visits, making a total of 20 daily visits. Children suffering from chronic diseases, included in the FP list, is on average of 60 yearly, representing 1.8% of the total children. These children received an average of 6.6±1.0 yearly visits statistically significant (P=0.08) in respect to the yearly visits carried out. While children aged 0-2 years received 70% of total routine health-checks, children aged between 3 and 6 years received 38% of total visits. RESULTS: Respiratory tract diseases appeared as the more frequent disease, representing over 60% of total diagnosis. CONCLUSION: FP's work is mainly dedicated to prevention with the important support of routine health-checks while the rest of his work concerns acute illnesses. Nowadays it is becoming more important to assist children suffering from chronic diseases because they represent the future of child assistance.
AIM: Italian family pediatrician (FP) represents a unique example of global medical assistance for children throughout the world. Their role, however, is not fully known because appropriate feedback has not developed to evaluate the impact of FP's care on childhood disease morbidity. METHODS: This study contains a report of the daily activity of a FP, during the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 to create a picture of the current situation in the Italian medical health system that deals with children. Results have demonstrated that the mean number of yearly visits is 3 293±351, the mean routine health-checks is 952±60 and the mean number of yearly access is 4 245±391. The mean number of daily visits is 4.5±0.3 for routine health-checks and 15.5±1.5 for the visits, making a total of 20 daily visits. Children suffering from chronic diseases, included in the FP list, is on average of 60 yearly, representing 1.8% of the total children. These children received an average of 6.6±1.0 yearly visits statistically significant (P=0.08) in respect to the yearly visits carried out. While children aged 0-2 years received 70% of total routine health-checks, children aged between 3 and 6 years received 38% of total visits. RESULTS:Respiratory tract diseases appeared as the more frequent disease, representing over 60% of total diagnosis. CONCLUSION: FP's work is mainly dedicated to prevention with the important support of routine health-checks while the rest of his work concerns acute illnesses. Nowadays it is becoming more important to assist children suffering from chronic diseases because they represent the future of child assistance.