Comparing the Quality of Pediatric Care by Routine Protocols and Integrated Management of Childhood Illness

Children account for 30-70% of all patients seen in outpatient clinics. Studies have shown integrated methods to improve quality of outpatient care in children. The present study aimed to compare quality of care between routine and integrated methods in pediatric outpatient setting.

This double-blinded prospective study was carried out in two pediatric clinics of Amin Hospital (Isfahan، Iran). Non-probability convenience sampling was used to select 100 children. Performance of medical interns in visiting these children was assessed by an observer through a checklist. Then، students in clinic A were trained in Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) algorithms. The performance of the two groups in visiting 100 children was reevaluated at the end of the period again. The mean of their scores and frequency of each item of the checklist was calculated and compared between the two groups.

The mean scores of performance of the two groups had no significant difference. Only the frequency of few items of the checklist was significantly different between the two groups.

We found no significant difference between the two groups. It may be due to short training period، interest in textbooks، lack of knowledge about efficacy of IMCI algorithms in the future work، and not having adequate time for practicing. Another reason may be low power of our study.