A quarter of Spanish children are treated by doctors and not pediatricians
Every father knows that the pediatrician is that health professional who specialized in the recognition of childhood diseases. When the child gives symptoms that something is wrong with their health, the first step is to ask for help from these doctors for a first assessment. However, in the different health centers of Spain, it is not always one of these specialists who attends to the child.
This is clear from the survey on the situation of pediatrics in health centers of Spain 2018, carried out by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics and Primary Care, AEPap. This study shows how not all the children who come to the health center end up being treated.
Places occupied by other doctors
The first fact that draws attention to this study is that the total national percentage of places occupied by non-specialist doctors in Pediatrics is 25,25%. This translates into a reality: one in four children in Spain are not served by the professional who has focused on this branch of medicine.
Of course, not all territories in Spain have this problem. For example, La Rioja presents a 0% of Pediatrics squares occupied by non-specialist doctors. This percentage rises to 48.97% in areas such as the Balearic Islands. Asturias and Cantabria are also part of the communities with the lowest data in this sense, specifically 1.75% and 3.66% respectively.
Along with the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha also presents a high percentage of squares occupied by non-specialists in Pediatrics. Specifically, 41.18%. The Community of Madrid closes this particular percentage with 31.44%. By provinces, La Rioja, Valladolid, Zamora and Zaragoza have 0% of these vacancies occupied by another specialist.
Huelva, Cádiz and Almería are the provinces with the highest percentage of Pediatric vacancies occupied by a different specialist. Specifically 58%, 50% and 56% respectively.
The importance of the pediatrician
How important is a good pediatrician? Keep in mind that this doctor is the first level of care in the health care of children. According to data offered by the SESPAS Report, this specialist solves the solution more than 90% of the consultations that arrive to them in the health center where the families go.
In addition, the pediatrician also supervises increase Y developing, and participates in all prevention, promotion and health education activities within the primary care teams. In this way, this specialist offers a first diagnosis before starting a treatment.
Damián Montero
