A Survey of Pediatrics Resident Knowledge of Growth and Development

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate pediatric residents'knowledge about the milestones of growth and development in chlidren.

Materials and Methods

Seventy-one pediatric residents from 3 main Children's Centers in Tehran weresurveyed to evaluate their knowledge on growth and development of children.Included in the survey was based upon filling up a questionnaire containingquestions about four different categories of development (motor, cognitive,speech and social interactions). The scores that the residents got from the testwere summed up and were compared together.

Results

71 resident participants completed the questionnaire. The distribution ofresidents by year was 26 post graduate year 1 (PGY1), 26 PGY2, and 23 PGY3.The knowledge of 14 (19.7%) of the participants about child's development wasranked as "Less than expected", 47 (66.2%) as "Unacceptable", 10 (14.1%) as"Acceptable" and none (0%) as "Ideal", according to the total score they gotfrom their correct answers to the questions.

Conclusion

This study describes that most pediatric residents lack the acceptable knowledgeon children's growth and development. It seems that their knowledge did notimprove through their years of residency.