McLennan John D, Sheehan Debbie
Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.
J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008;17(1):20-5.
Young children with mental health and developmental problems may not receive appropriate or timely interventions. Primary care physicians are well positioned to play an important role in the early identification and referral of such children. The objective of this pilot study was to explore the role primary care physicians played for a group of such children.
A single mailing of 1196 self-report questionnaires were sent to parents/caregivers of children under six years of age at four specialty centers in Ontario and Alberta. Key items on the survey included the role of primary care physicians (family physicians and community paediatricians).
Twenty percent of parents/caregivers returned questionnaires. All children saw either a family physician or a community paediatrician, while 65% saw both. Families were more likely to have come to the specialty centre via a referral from a community paediatrician than a family physician. Ten percent reportedly received no referrals from a primary care physician, while 21% did not receive a referral to a specialty centre from these providers.
The majority of children received at least one referral from a primary care physician. Further inquiry is required to determine the timeliness and appropriateness of these referrals.
患有心理健康和发育问题的幼儿可能无法获得适当或及时的干预。初级保健医生在这类儿童的早期识别和转诊方面具有重要作用。这项试点研究的目的是探讨初级保健医生对一组此类儿童所起的作用。
向安大略省和艾伯塔省四个专科中心的1196名6岁以下儿童的家长/照顾者邮寄了自我报告问卷。调查的关键项目包括初级保健医生（家庭医生和社区儿科医生）的作用。
20%的家长/照顾者返回了问卷。所有儿童都看过家庭医生或社区儿科医生，其中65%的儿童两者都看过。与家庭医生相比，家庭更有可能是通过社区儿科医生的转诊来到专科中心的。据报告，10%的儿童没有收到初级保健医生的转诊，而21%的儿童没有从这些提供者那里获得转诊到专科中心的机会。
大多数儿童至少收到了一次初级保健医生的转诊。需要进一步调查以确定这些转诊的及时性和适当性。
