2. Definition
A branch of medicine dealing with the development, care, and
diseases of infants, children, and adolescents
Pediatrics also deals with:
Biological, Social and environmental influences on the
developing child the impact of disease and dysfunction on
development
3. . Children differ from adults:
Anatomically
Physiologically
Immunologically
Psychologically
Developmentally
metabolically.
4. SCOPE AND HISTORY OF PEDIATRICS
Medical specialty that emerged more than a centuary ago in
response to :
increasing awareness that the health problems of children differ from those
of adults
that a child's response to illness and stress varies with age.
The emphasis and scope of pediatrics continue to change, but these
basic observations remain valid
5. The health problems of children vary widely worldwide
This depends on a number of factors which include:
prevalence and ecology of infectious agents and their hosts;
climate and geography
agricultural resources and practices
educational, economic, social, and cultural considerations
Stage of industrialization and urbanization
in many instances, the gene frequencies for some disorders
6. Top five causes of mortality in Zambia
Pneumonia
Diarrhoea
Malaria
Malnutrition
HIV related diseases
7. Some indicators monitored in paediatrics
Under-five mortality rate: Probability of dying between birth and exactly
5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births
Infant mortality rate: Probability of dying between birth and exactly
1 year of age, expressed per 1,000 live births
Neonatal mortality rate: Probability of dying during the first 28 days of
life, expressed per 1,000 live births
Probability of dying among children aged 5–14: Probability of dying at
age 5–14 years expressed per 1,000 children aged 5
8. Ethics in Pediatric Care
The proper scope of parental decision-making is bounded by the
concept of:
a child's best interest
the emerging desire capacity for autonomy self-determination of an older
child or adolescent
Additionionally, the pediatric clinician has an independent
professional obligation to act in a child's “best interest,”
There possibility of conflict among child, parent, and clinician.
9. The approach to the ethical issues that arise in pediatric practice
must include respect for both:
parent's responsibility for the life and health of a child
Child's developing capacity and autonomy
Further complexity is added by
the varying social, cultural, and religious views of the role of family,
parental authority, appropriate methods for disciplining a child, the
age of majority, and alternative approaches to health care
10. INFORMED CONSENT, PARENTAL PERMISSION, AND CHILD ASSENT
A competent adult patient has the right to decide, after consultation with
a physician, which medical interventions he or she will or will not accept
This right of self-determination (or autonomy) based on personal
preferences and values is reflected in the doctrine of voluntary and
informed consent
This doctrine, however, has limited direct application to children and
adolescents who lack the decisional capacity or legal empowerment to give
informed consent to medical care.
11. The capacity for informed decision-making in health care is generally
thought to involve the ability to :
i. understand and communicate
ii. reason and deliberate
iii. analyze conflicting elements of a decision using a set of personal
values
The age at which a competent patient may legally exercise voluntary
and informed consent for medical care varies from state to state