Preventive pediatrics in medical education. II. A method of teaching preventive pediatrics in the medical school curriculum.

Knowledge of the intricacies of child growth and development and the complexities of family and community dynamics are invaluable for an adequate appraisal of the health needs of the child and for a responsible discharge of professional service. An attempt to incorporate these principles into a medical curriculum is illustrated by a specific method of teaching preventive pediatrics successfully employed over the past five years at the University of British Columbia. First-year students are assigned families and instructed and supervised in observation, examination and interviewing techniques relevant to the normal child. The second-year program is focused on specific individual and family problems of interpersonal relations and elaborates on counselling and other preventive techniques. Research projects are undertaken by the students. By the third year the program is integrated into the tradetional hospital setting, with additive exposure to the functioning of community health and welfare services.