The Role of Paediatricians

5.3.3 The Role of Paediatricians

Paediatricians provide some primary care services for healthy & high-risk children with complex &/or chronic conditions
Paediatricians act mainly as consultants for acute and chronic conditions and may provide primary care during visits

For a summary of the key roles of primary care providers by Canadian jurisdiction click here

Source: CICH Map created using data from Guttmann, A., Gandhi, S., Hanvey, Li, P., Barwick, M., Cohen, E., Glazer, S., Reisman, J. & Brownell, M. (2017). Primary Health Care Services for Children and Youth in Canada: Access, Quality and Structure. In The Health of Canada’s Children and Youth: A CICH Profile. Retrieved from https://cichprofile.ca/module/3/ -accessed July 25, 2017.

The roles of paediatricians vary across and within each jurisdiction; with, for example, primary care roles more common in cities highly concentrated with paediatricians.¹

There are no resident paediatricians in the Territories, however consultative care is provided by visiting paediatricians.¹

¹Guttmann, A., Gandhi, S., Hanvey, Li, P., Barwick, M., Cohen, E., Glazer, S., Reisman, J. & Brownell, M. (2017). Primary Health Care Services for Children and Youth in Canada: Access, Quality and Structure. In The Health of Canada’s Children and Youth: A CICH Profile. Retrieved from https://cichprofile.ca/module/3/-accessed July 25, 2017.

Implications

Paediatricians provide an entire range of medical services for healthy as well as high-risk children (complex and/or chronic conditions) – as primary care providers or consultants, depending on the province/territory. Overall, paediatricians play a role in planning the care of children with long-term chronic conditions, in either a consulting role to family physicians or as providers of primary care.