Research Assessment #5

Name: Vanshika Srivastava

Date: November 17, 2017
Subject: The Pediatrician's Role in the Community
MLA of APA citation:

Services, Committee on Community Health. The Pediatrician's Role in Community Pediatrics.

Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 Apr. 2005,
pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/115/4/1092.
Analysis:
Your Doctor or Pediatrician has a role in many different cases. They make sure you are
healthy and happy so you can be happy and healthy for the rest of your life. A Pediatrician has a
more prominent role in which they make you happy and healthy from the very start. They also
find roots for all downside causes. Whether it'd be physical or emotional, they will find it. I have
an understanding of what General Pediatrics is. It's all that I have been studying in my journey
thus far. I know what they do, who they see, how they deal with kids, etc. I read this article about
Community Pediatrics, and I had no idea what this was. "Is this a new field within the field of
Pediatrics" was my first initial thought. But no, it can be described in straightforward terms, and
it makes a whole lot of sense.
To make sure you know what I will be talking about, you have to first understand what
Community Pediatrics is. In the article, the authors describe Community Pediatrics as promoting
health care on a more one on one basis and providing them with benefits at home. They say that
Doctors within this field have "a synthesis of clinical practice and public health principles
directed towards providing health care to a given child and promoting the health of all children
context of the family, school, and community." They also meet with people one on one to tackle
a disease a child might have. This could range from obesity to even genetic disorders like Cystic
Fibrosis.
But, another question popped into my head, isn't that Pediatricians do on a daily, meet
with people, in the clinic, and diagnose and treat a patient? But no this is what's interesting. It has
been proven that going to the patient's house is very useful. It increases the reassurance that the
child will get the necessary help they need to stay healthy. I didn't know this until reading this
article that there is someone in my community that is seen by a Community Pediatrician. I dont
know what they have or if it is the car of the person that is Community Pediatrician, but every
day when I come home from school, there is always a Children's Home Care car outside their
house.
Another thing that is good to note is that, if a community pediatrician sees you, they have
a sense of what your environment looks like. For example, if you're living in a horrible situation
where access to health care isn't the best, then they can be effective in that setting. Your
environment is a crucial factor for how your health plays out. In my opinion, just like how
people could have their private chef, many people could have their private doctor. But children
use it for helping them get healthy. I find that the qualities of a Community Pediatrician should
be possessed by all doctors no matter what field you are in.
In conclusion, this article provides a brief insight into what this broader field of Pediatrics
is. Like I said before, all pediatricians should possess the same qualities as Community
Pediatricians. Based on what I know now, I know how vital collaborating with patients is
extremely important. If you don't ask, you don't help the patients in the long run. Also, I have
learned, that learning never stops when you are a doctor or practically any field you go into.
There is always new research and still new ways to tackle things. The article stressed getting
together with the local health departments and college professors because these two sources are
the ways to find out more about what discoveries are being put out. In my opinion, since new
research is coming out all the time, sticking with the old knowledge would make you seem less
knowledgeable. If you are a doctor and can take the new research and can treat people solely
based on the newly found study, it would look stellar, and everyone would want to come to you
to see how and why you came to these conclusions. Overall, I have learned a new part of my
topic in which makes me want to learn more about going forward.
(article on page 3)
 The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers a definition of community pediatrics to remind all
pediatricians, generalists and specialists alike, of the profound importance of the community dimension in
pediatric practice. Community pediatrics is all of the following:

A perspective that enlarges the pediatricians focus from one child to all children in the community;
A recognition that family, educational, social, cultural, spiritual, economic, environmental, and political forces
act favorably or unfavorably, but always significantly, on the health and functioning of children;
A synthesis of clinical practice and public health principles directed toward providing health care to a given
child and promoting the health of all children within the context of the family, school, and community4;
A commitment to use a communitys resources in collaboration with other professionals, agencies, and
parents to achieve optimal accessibility, appropriateness, and quality of services5 for all children and to
advocate especially for those who lack access to care because of social, cultural, geographic, or economic
conditions or special health care needs6,7; and
An integral part of the professional role and duty of the pediatrician.

For many pediatricians, efforts to promote the health of children have been directed at attending to the
needs of particular children in a practice setting, on an individual basis, and providing them with a medical
home.8 This approach, in combination with pediatricians own personal community interests and
commitments, has proven to be very successful. Increasingly, however, the major threats to the health of
Americas children, the new morbidities,9 arise from problems that cannot be addressed adequately by the
practice model alone.10 These problems include high infant mortality rates, children with chronic health
care needs, obesity, disproportionately high levels of intentional and unintentional injuries, exposure to
lead and other environmental hazards, substance abuse, behavioral and developmental consequences of
inappropriate care and experience, mental health conditions, poor school readiness,11family dysfunction,
sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and lack of access to medical homes.12 An integral
component of a community-pediatrics approach incorporates interdisciplinary practice. As former AAP
president Robert Haggerty, MD, FAAP, reminded us in 1995, we must become partners with others, or we
will become increasingly irrelevant to the health of children.13

Communities should impart a sense of health, safety, and well-being and promote a supportive environment
for families of all types. Just as children depend on the interaction of families in which they live, the
communities that support them affect families. The health and welfare of children depend on the ability of
families and the community support system to foster positive emotional and physical development.14
Recently the AAPs Task Force on the Family examined the concept of family pediatrics and the discipline
that must be practiced within the context15 of the community.16,17

Pediatricians remain instrumental in efforts to create, organize, and implement changes in communities
efforts that can substantially improve the health of children. As far back as Abraham Jacobi, MD (18301919),
a leading child advocate of his time and a founder of the discipline of pediatrics, pediatricians recognized that
children are best understood, and their needs attended to, within interlinking contexts of biology, family, and
community.18 More recently, Haggerty identified the unique contribution and focus of community
pediatrics: Community pediatrics [has sought] to provide a far more realistic and complete clinical picture
by taking responsibility for all children in a community, providing preventive and curative services, and
understanding the determinants and consequences of child health and illness, as well as the effectiveness
of services provided. Thus, the unique feature of community pediatrics is its concern for all of the
populationthose who remain well but need preventive services, those who have symptoms but do not
receive effective care, and those who do seek medical care either in a physicians office or in a hospital.19
With the sweeping changes occurring in medicine and other human services, it is especially important now
for pediatricians to reexamine and reaffirm their role as professionals in the community, as community
pediatricians, and prepare themselves for it just as diligently as they prepare for traditional clinical roles.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Pediatricians should use community data (epidemiologic, demographic, and economic) to increase
their understanding of the health and social risks on child outcomes and of the opportunities for
successful collaboration with other child advocates.
2. Pediatricians should work collaboratively with public health departments and colleagues in related
professions to identify and decrease barriers to the health and well-being of children in the
communities they serve.20,21