The term “pediatrics” is derived from the Greek words: pais (paidos) – child and iatreia – treatment. As the name implies, pediatrics, is a branch of medicine dealing with diseases of childhood and caring for healthy and sick children of all ages.

Management of Childhood Illness

The main factor that distinguishes pediatrics as one of the most important branches of medicine, is that the child can not be treated simply, considered as  a small adult.

Methods of treatment and care in case of illness for adults are significantly different from those used in medicine for children. Babies are  characterised by  anatomical, physiological, emotional and immunological immaturity. Because of this, children have diseases, the course and outcome of which depends on the degree of maturity of the sick child. In addition, because the child’s body is constantly growing and evolving, violations of these processes lead to disease, never encountered in adults. As an example, rickets develops only in early childhood.

The child’s body is very different from an adult organism, and as children of different ages from birth to maturity also differ. With age, the child’s reactions vary considerably on the surrounding conditions, its nutritional needs, the ability to resist infection and carry a variety of diseases.

Effective treatment and use of drugs, require some knowledge, not only age-appropriate dosage, but also tolerance to each drug. The emergence of various antimicrobial drugs, such as sulfonamides, penicillin and streptomycin, and subsequently many other broad-spectrum antibiotics, has revolutionized the treatment of most bacterial infections characteristic for both children and adults. However, their use in pediatric patients is complicated by a number of specific problems.

Pediatrician (children’s doctor) – is the personal physician of your child. The main task of the pediatrician – prevention and treatment of diseases, it controls all the age-related changes . If the child is sick, pediatrician diagnoses, defines aid specialists that are needed, prescribes treatment and conducts recovery from illness.