Abstract
BackgroundThere is an increasing prevalence of developmental difficulties among Israeli children. We aimed to assess whether pediatricians are equipped to diagnose and manage them.MethodsWe assessed the knowledge of basic child development issues and availability of services and content of special education systems among a randomly selected national sample of residents and senior Israeli pediatricians. This was done via an 70-itemed survey developed especially for this study which consisted of seven main subjects: developmental milestones, global developmental delay, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, protocol for referring to a child development institute, availability and facilities of special education systems, and medical conditions associated with developmental delay.Results A total of 310 pediatricians (an 86 % usable response rate) participated. The total median knowledge score was 32.1 % (IQR 17.8–53.5 %). Knowledge was significantly better among senior pediatricians (p < .001), those working in an office-based setting (p < .001), and those who were parents (p < .001) or had a family history of a developmental condition (p = .003). Most responders (94 %) felt that their resident training in child development was inadequate, and that they do not have sufficient access to resources and guidelines about child development and special education systems (80 %).ConclusionsThe gap in knowledge on topics of child development and special education systems among Israeli pediatricians stems from inadequacies in the current curricula of pediatric residencies. The alarmingly low scores of our survey on these issues call for prompt revamping of the syllabus to include them.
Highlights
There is an increasing prevalence of developmental difficulties among Israeli children
Knowledge should encompass milestones of development, the major entities of child development [global developmental delay (GDD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), language disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)], the structure and services provided by Child Development Institutes, and the procedure of placement in a special education system and therapies/ services, such as physical, speech, and occupational therapy [5]
Requirement of this knowledge notwithstanding, there is no designated minimal timeframe of training in child development during residency. This knowledge it is usually acquired en site from senior pediatricians in general pediatric departments, neonatal intensive care units, outpatient clinics, and or on-the-job learning in randomly assigned daily shifts that residents perform in community-based well-baby care clinics
Summary
There is an increasing prevalence of developmental difficulties among Israeli children. Knowledge should encompass milestones of development, the major entities of child development [global developmental delay (GDD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), language disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)], the structure and services provided by Child Development Institutes, and the procedure of placement in a special education system and therapies/ services, such as physical, speech, and occupational therapy [5] Requirement of this knowledge notwithstanding, there is no designated minimal timeframe of training in child development during residency. This knowledge it is usually acquired en site from senior pediatricians in general pediatric departments, neonatal intensive care units, outpatient clinics, and or on-the-job learning in randomly assigned daily shifts that residents perform in community-based well-baby care clinics The responsibilities of these latter clinics are the provision of preventive care to children from birth until five years of age, which includes vaccinations and periodically performed development screens done by general physicians/pediatric residents/senior pediatricians [6]. Pediatric residents attending these clinics do not undergo formal training in child development beforehand
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