The Changing Role of the Pediatrician in Child Health Care

Abstract

I would like to be able to document all of the assertions on the role of the pediatrician that I will make here, but this is not possible. While I have documented some statements, much of what I say has to be taken as the gospel according to me. Others will see the world through different spectacles, and I hope they will have a forum for their views. What does seem clear is that there is a wide variety of factors outside the pediatrician's immediate control that determine in large part what he does now and will do in the future. Some of these are discussed early in this presentation, and then later I build on these to make some predictions about the future. <h3>Determinants of the Pediatrician's Job</h3> There is no one role for the pediatrician, for it will vary from the rural generalist-consultant to the urban primary care