All parents of young children have ever gone to the pediatrician and more than one have, surely, some "hits" with the health system. To try to improve the quality of the service, a comparative survey on the black points of pediatric care.
It is titled the "Black Points of Assistance to the Infant-Youth Population in Primary Care of Spain", and highlights the important differences in child care between communities.
The ones with the most black points are the Community of Madrid and Andalusia, with three black points, followed by Murcia and Catalonia, which have received two black points. The best are Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura and La Rioja.
The most important problems that communities have, especially that of Madrid, is that it has more primary care pediatrics seats not covered by a pediatrician, lack of pediatric nurses and schedules make it difficult for professionals to reconcile family and work life.
But we must also mention the restricted accessibility to the Internet from the consultations and the fact that wages are different in the different autonomous communities.
As parents, what worries us the most is that the staff serving our children is not specialized, or that the nurses who care for adults and the elderly are the same as those who care for the little ones.
Pediatricians have been missing for years in Spain and there are more children than recommended, but little has been done about it.
A staff dedicated exclusively to children is better prepared and knows better the problems of the child population. You can give better advice on breastfeeding, feeding, vaccines, allergies and more common diseases among the little ones.
To try to solve, or at least improve the black points of pediatric care, a Primary Care Pediatric Observatory has been created in Madrid that they plan to extend to the rest of the autonomous communities.
Hopefully the initiative will prosper and see solutions soon.
