儿科

儿科学侧重于婴儿、儿童和青少年的保健. 婴儿较小的身体在生理上与成人有很大的不同. 除了通常提供的护理之外, 儿科专业的医生特别关注先天性缺陷, 遗传方差, 行为和发展问题. A large focus in pediatrics is health maintenance, anticipatory guidance and parental counseling. Evaluation of the family system is also needed to identify health care and developmental needs of the child.

Childhood is the period when the greatest growth and maturation occurs for the various systems of the body. Practitioners specializing in pediatrics receive education in recognizing the difference between normal variants of those systems and actual conditions relating to or caused by disorders requiring special evaluation and treatment.

尊重隐私问题和法律责任. 儿童是未成年人，因此不能自己做决定. 因此, the primary caregivers are involved in all aspects of care and decision-making involving the child.