Pediatric semiology as content in initial medical education. Historical trends

Abstract

Cuban medical education strives to train integral physicians. The integrating elements between basic and clinical sciences constitute a central axis of training and in this sense, the role played by semiology and clinical epidemiology is relevant. When applying the clinical method in pediatrics, it is necessary to consider that the child is not a simple miniature of the adult. Pediatric semiology makes it possible to search for, identify and analyze the physical symptoms and signs of an apparently healthy or obviously ill child and adolescent and, consequently, to decide what the child's health condition is. Thus, it is a fundamental part of the art of diagnosis. In Cuba, the teaching of Pediatrics in the initial training of the Medicine career has gone through different stages, hence the analysis of its historical evolution becomes the objective of this work. Several methods were used, such as historical-logical, systemic, analysis and synthesis, and critical analysis of sources. The main trends and the trajectory of the teaching-learning process in Pediatrics were defined, with emphasis on the treatment of the pediatric semiology content, an aspect that, although it has been recognized, has not had the desired impact, which requires a deeper study of this component in the different sciences that contribute to Pediatrics.