The Roles of the Pediatrician
Pediatricians have many roles related to patients' development. These roles exist across the developmental age span - for infants, children and adolescents. We will review five roles:
- Educate parents about expected development
- Conduct developmental surveillance
- Refer for comprehensive assessment
- Search for etiology
- Facilitate intervention
Role #1: Educate Parents About Expected Development
Parents are not always aware of how their child should be developing or what behaviors and skills are appropriate for certain ages. The pediatrician becomes an educator. The direct teaching you can do at the well-child visit is important. But other creative "teaching" strategies can include involving nursing staff in developmental education, using the waiting room as a learning resource area, and providing parents information on appropriate resources such as pamphlets, book titles, videos, and websites. At each well-child visit, the pediatrician and the parent should review expected development for that age. In addition, there should be some discussion of the next stage of development to prepare the parent and the child or adolescent for future changes. This is called "anticipatory guidance."
