Abstract
Little if any information is available concerning the spectrum of illness encountered during the day to day practice of pediatric infectious diseases. Poretz (J. Infect. Dis. 147:417-421, 1983) presented his experience with inpatient and outpatient consultations for a primarily adult population seen during part of 1982. We reviewed patient records for 1408 infants, children, and adolescents seen by one of us in inpatient infectious disease consultation during the period 01/01/81 to 12/01/83. Patients ranged in age from neonates through 21 years. Consultations were requested by pediatricians, family practitioners, internists, medical and surgical subspecialists and seen at one of nine institutions in northern New Jersey. Consultations were classified according to organ system involved, age and disease category. Several striking differences emerged when compared to Poretz's experience with adults. These include less post general surgical and gynecologic infections; bone and joint infections are problems in all age groups. In our study, neonates (by definition) dermatologic, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections were more prominent. This study has implications for undergraduate, graduate and post graduate education in infectious diseases. This experience has been used effectively to develop teaching sessions at involved institutions. Data on telephone inquiries from physicians will also be presented.
Log in or create a free account to read this content
Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com
or
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Minnefor, A., Oleske, J. A CONSULTATIVE PRACTICE IN PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 231 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00827
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00827
