Parents often have to deal with various diseases in their baby, which, alas, accompany him during the entire period of growing up, and therefore an inevitable and frequent event for them is visiting doctors at a children's clinic. The structure and organizational system of this institution, however, is not transparent and understandable for everyone, and therefore in today's article we will look into this issue. We will also find out what is the procedure for contacting district pediatricians, and what is their scope of responsibility.
Defining a he alth facility
So, what is a children's clinic? The tasks, structure and features of this outpatient and preventive unit of the state he althcare system involve providing care to children from birth until they reach adulthood.
At the same time, the main work should be aimed not at treating the child after the fact, but atprevention of his diseases, his timely medical examination. The structure of the children's polyclinic does not allow for active manipulations with patients. It provides more diagnostic and consulting assistance. In some cases, outpatient treatment in a polyclinic is also possible if the scheme prescribed by the doctor allows the provision of medication and other types of care in a day hospital and does not require round-the-clock monitoring of the patient.
Polyclinic functions
The main function of this institution is to serve patients who do not need urgent hospitalization. At the same time, the provision of services by medical personnel occurs not only in the conditions of a children's clinic. The structure of the institution guarantees the departure of pediatricians and visiting nurses at home.
Also, the list of functions includes the organization of preventive measures aimed at reducing the incidence rate among children. There are many ways to achieve this:
- establishment of a system of periodic scheduled examinations of patients of all age groups. At the same time, special attention is paid to babies up to a year;
- promoting a he althy lifestyle among children, timely anti-epidemic measures;
- Mass immunization against infectious diseases must be carried out according to WHO standards and guidelines.
The structure of the children's polyclinic implies the presence of specialized specialists in the staffable to provide primary consulting and diagnostic assistance to patients. Without fail, this is a surgeon, orthopedist, neurologist, otorhinolaryngologist and ophthalmologist. A cardiologist, an infectious disease specialist, a dentist, a psychologist, a speech therapist and other specialists are also assigned to large polyclinics of the 1st-2nd category.
In addition, the functional responsibilities of medical personnel employed in children's clinics involve the establishment of a system of activities aimed at preparing children for entering schools and kindergartens.
Objectives of the institution
In addition to the direct treatment of patients and the implementation of measures to prevent diseases among children, polyclinic services do work to give clinical expert opinions. It is in this institution that an examination of the disability of children and adolescents (temporary and permanent) is carried out.
An equally important task is the competent execution of statistical, accounting and reporting documentation. At the moment, each clinic is assigned a specific area. Pediatricians responsible for the territory entrusted to them are obliged to monitor the situation with the physical and mental development of children from their area, keep records of wards from the risk group.
What other services can the children's polyclinic provide to patients? The structure, tasks and principles of work of each institution directly depend on the category assigned to it. We will talk about this in more detail later.
Division bycategories
Children's clinics are divided into five categories. This division depends on the number of patients to whom a particular medical institution provides its services. In large cities, these are mainly polyclinics of the 1st and 2nd categories, which, respectively, can receive up to 800 or 700 patients per day. At the same time, the structure and organization of a children's polyclinic of the first category falls on the shoulders of 50-70 doctors, and a smaller institution in terms of attendance in the state can contain up to 50 medical positions.
Such clinics are most often very well equipped and have additional services in their structure:
- physiotherapy and exercise therapy room;
- massage room;
- dental office;
- clinical laboratory, including X-ray room;
- a unit working in the direction of the psychological rehabilitation of children.
Small polyclinics of the 4th and 3rd category can receive up to 500 patients per day, and no more than forty doctors are involved in their staff. Institutions of the 5th category have the least load (up to 150 people come here). Most often, these are polyclinics located in small settlements, such medical institutions have a small staff, which is mainly represented by general practitioners (pediatrician or family doctor).
Organizational structure of the children's polyclinic
Regardless of its category, a children's clinic must comply with generally acceptedstate regulations. The structure of the described medical institution consists of the following departments:
- Management of the polyclinic (chief physician). The administrative and economic part of the medical institution is also subordinated here.
- Information department, which includes the registry and method cabinet.
- Pediatric department engaged in medical and preventive activities (district pediatricians, he althy child's office, vaccination room, treatment room).
- Department of counseling and diagnostics (offices for highly specialized specialists, rooms where patients undergo diagnostic measures, physical procedures).
- Laboratory.
- Emergency Department.
- Office for work with school and preschool educational institutions.
- Day hospital.
If we consider an outpatient clinic for adults and a children's clinic, then there is a significant difference between them. How is the structure of the children's clinic different? The layout of the premises involves the creation of two separate entrances to the medical facility so that he althy and sick children do not come into contact with each other.
Medical staff
The basis of the staff of any children's clinic are pediatricians. According to the standards, there are about 800 patients per specialist. In practice, this number is much higher due to the insufficient number of qualified specialists (especially in small towns and villages).
Within one hour of visiting a pediatricianit is necessary to examine an average of 6 people; the time that a specialist can devote to each patient is no more than 15 minutes. And when leaving the house for one patient, he can spend a maximum of 30 minutes. During professional examinations, the doctor's workload increases, for example, in one hour he needs to release seven children.
According to the civilian schedule, one rate of a district pediatrician accounts for 1.5 nursing rates. Employees from among the paramedical staff conduct appointments together with doctors, carry out procedures in manipulation rooms. Patronage nurses travel to newborns to provide advice to young mothers and record babies.
The structure and tasks of the children's polyclinic are seriously focused on providing medical services to children in their first year of life. Until the baby is 24 days old, a pediatrician and a nurse come to him weekly (alternately). This measure helps reduce morbidity and mortality among newborns.
Providing specialized assistance
The number of highly specialized specialists directly depends on the category of the polyclinic. We will now discuss their functional responsibilities in more detail. At the age of one month, each child is subject to examination by doctors such as a neurologist, surgeon, orthopedist and ophthalmologist. These specialists help to identify possible he alth problems of the baby at an early age, including a lag in mental and physical development.
Also, the pediatrician can refer the child for examination to a cardiologist, ENT,hematologist, dermatologist, infectious disease specialist, endocrinologist or gastroenterologist. Before conducting an examination with narrow specialists, the child will need to conduct a comprehensive examination, the referral to which is given by the local pediatrician. It includes blood, urine, stool, X-ray, abdominal ultrasound and neurosonography.
The structure and functions of a children's clinic do not always allow all these manipulations to be performed on the basis of one institution, so doctors can give a ticket to a district or city children's hospital.
Child Immunization
Mass vaccination of the population against certain infectious diseases is one of the main tasks of medical institutions. The vaccination procedure is simple and transparent. First of all, the pediatrician must examine his patient and make a conclusion about his state of he alth. A he althy child who has no reason for a medical exemption from vaccinations is given the vaccine. Manipulation is carried out in a special room.
The structure of the vaccination room in the children's polyclinic is a separate service due to the fact that work is organized here for the supply, storage and use of accountable drugs. The required air temperature is maintained in this room, special equipment is provided.
Manipulation and day hospital
In the conditions of a children's clinic, children have access not only to consultative and diagnostic assistance, but also to conduct therapeutic measures,rehabilitation procedures:
- balneotherapy;
- mud therapy;
- water treatments;
- exercise therapy, therapeutic massage;
- UHF, tube, inhalation, paraffin heating, etc.
All these procedures are carried out only after a doctor's prescription. Junior and middle medical personnel cannot manipulate a patient based on their own decisions.
Work from home
The structure and organization of the children's polyclinic allows visiting patients at home. Pediatricians make visits according to the schedule, each in his own area. Calling a doctor at home is done by phone through the reception.
At the same time, at home, the doctor can examine the child not only at the primary stage of the disease. Re-treatment is possible if the patient does not feel better or his condition worsens. Paperwork (prescription, referral for tests, ultrasound or x-rays, referral to a specialized specialist) at home is also possible.
Age of children's polyclinic wards
Patients can contact the children's polyclinic from birth until they are 18 years old. At the same time, help is also provided to pregnant women who have been diagnosed with a complication of intrauterine development of the fetus. A visit to the local pediatrician is also planned for expectant mothers of quite he althy babies. The pediatrician should conduct explanatory work with the future woman in labor about how to care for the newborn, consult her inbreastfeeding issues.
When a child reaches the age of majority, the local pediatrician transfers his patient to a family doctor or therapist, draws up all the medical documentation necessary for this process.
