Pediatrics is a compulsory course in the fifth year of the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Study of Medicine in English. It consists of 45 hours of lectures, 70 hours of seminars and 102 hours of practicals (11 ECTS credits).

Course objective:The course Pediatrics aims to acquire basic knowledge and skills in pediatrics. Pediatrics is a medical discipline defined by the object of interest - the child, from birth to maturity. The interest of pediatrics is focused on the child as an individual and on the whole pediatric  population.  The tasks of pediatrics are multiple: study and surveillance of the growth and development of children, protection and improvement of children's health, prevention and cure of diseases, and rehabilitation of disabled children. Pediatrics is based on the unitarist approach, combining three main components of children's health care - prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. The unique significance of pediatrics is that delivering health care to the youngest and most vulnerable age largely determines the health of future generations of adults.

The course provides specific knowledge and practical skills in pediatrics at the level required for a future primary health care practitioner, enabling students to basic diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to a sick child, initial management of the most common pediatric diseases, emergency care in pediatrics, disease prevention and environmental health hazards.

Course content:

Propedeutics in pediatrics is focused on the peculiarities of young age, pediatric history, and physical examination of the child from infancy to adolescence and acquiring communication skills with children and parents/guardians. The main contents are the definition of pediatrics, the development and future of pediatrics in Croatia and the world, medical history in pediatrics, physical examination of the child, emotional development of the child, medical psychology of the sick child, the most common psychological disorders of children and adolescents and abused and neglected child.

General, social, and preventive pediatrics: General pediatrics includes theoretical and practical aspects of the physiology and pathology of growth and development, nutrition and nutritional disorders, assessment of nutritional status and nutritional disorders, and water, electrolyte, mineral, and acid-base disorders.

Social pediatrics studies the interaction of the child and the environment and the environmental factors that affect the child's health at the individual and population levels. Preventive pediatrics combines knowledge about the possibilities of preventive activities and improving children's health. The main contents are basics of child growth and development, growth and development by age, growth retardation, tall stature, nutrition of infants, preschool and school children, adolescent nutrition and its disorders, nutritional assessment,  malnutrition, obesity, vitamin intake and metabolism-related diseases, nutrition of the sick child, water, electrolyte, mineral and acid-base disorders, vital statistics data, maternal and child health care, active immunisation, newborn screening and symptomatic treatment of children.

Special pediatrics is the largest unit that includes pathological conditions related to age (infancy, preschool age, school age, puberty, and adolescence) and pathological conditions associated with certain organ systems, with special attention to those conditions that differ from adults. Special attention is paid to recognising and managing emergencies in pediatrics, the chronically ill child, and the health care transition. The main contents are hereditary and prenatally acquired diseases, metabolic diseases, healthy newborn infants, diseases of the newborn, respiratory diseases, allergy and allergic diseases, immunity and immunodeficiencies, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatic diseases, diseases of the blood, malignant diseases, diseases of the urinary system, diseases of the endocrine system, diseases of the digestive system, liver disease, neuromuscular diseases, critically ill child and chronically ill child.

Course learning outcomes:

1. Cognitive domain- knowledge

1. To define tasks and unitarist approach to pediatrics
2. To describe the basic vital statistical terminology and organisation of maternal and child healthcare
3. To recognise the importance of prevention in children’s health
4. To associate the main symptomsand signs of the most common childhood diseases with specific clinical conditions and syndromes
5. To select appropriate diagnostic procedures for the most common pathological conditions and diseases in pediatrics
6. To demonstrate the abilityfor treatment planningfor the most common pediatric  diseases
7. To analyse and evaluate the courseof treatment, its efficacy and outcomes

      II. Psychomotor domain - skills

1. To practice taking a pediatric history
2. To apply physical examination of the child
3. To recognise the average physical growth and development of the child and disturbances in growth and development
4. To perform basic practical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under supervision (taking of biological samples, blood pressure measurement, body temperature measurement, procedures with a febrile child, application of drugs in children)
5. To perform basic resuscitation skills of childrenand management of the most common emergencies in pediatrics
6. To set optimal therapeutic procedures for the most common diseasesin children (with assistance)
7. To participate in a multidisciplinary approachto the pediatric patient

Course structure

Classes (lectures, seminars, practicals) are held in the 10th semester of the study for eight weeks in a row at the Faculty of Medicine, Braće Branchetta 20 Rijeka and the Department of Pediatrics, Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka – locality Kantrida. Lectures are held in the first two weeks, and seminars and practicals are held for seven weeks.

Practicals are held at the Clinic for Pediatrics - Kantrida and Rijeka (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and the Clinic for Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care – Sušak, Skills Lab Simulation Centre (Kabinet vještina), Adress: Zgrada Sveučilišnih odjela, Radmile Matejčić 2, Rijeka. 

The first two weeks of lectures are common to all students. During lectures, students gain a theoretical overview of the main contents of the course. Seminars are problem-oriented, with case presentations. Students should regularly attend seminar classes and theoretically prepare for seminars according to the attached schedule (interactive classes). In case of an unfavourable epidemiological situation, it is possible to hold classes online.

Practicals are held for six weeks. Students are divided into groups of 5-7 students per teacher. During the practicals, students directly learn skills and practical knowledge. The first four days are practicals in pediatric propedeutics, followed by a rotation of pediatric activities and teachers, allowing students to learn about broad casuistic in pediatrics.

All students will do practicals in the Skills Lab Simulation Centre. Each group will do two days of practicals in the skills cabinet. They will be divided into three subgroups and practice different skills on the models: resuscitation in children, resuscitation of the newborn at birth, application of an intraosseous needle, safe defibrillation and intubation.

Students will be provided with all necessary information about classes regularly.