Knowledge levels of family physicians on infant follow up

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: In this study, our aim is to determine the level of knowledge of family physicians about the current guideline, how much they apply the guidelines, and the relationship between their knowledge level, specialization status, gender, and professional experience in primary care follow-up of infants aged 0-1. However, it is aimed to discuss that inadequate applications can be supported with trainings. APPLIANCES AND METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted with 264 family physicians reached through social media groups, without being selected. Descriptive analyzes, t-test for unrelated samples, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and simple linear regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. FINDINGS: As a result of our study, it was seen that the physicians who use the Baby, Child and Adolescent Monitoring Protocols have a high level of knowledge about infant follow-up. There was no significant difference between the knowledge levels of the physicians according to their gender, title and experience. Physicians have sufficient knowledge on vaccination schedule, DDH, heel blood, hyperbilirubinemia, breast milk and supplementary food, dental health, growth curves; It was observed that the information about iron and vitamin D prophylaxis, eye screening, motor and cognitive development follow-up, GIDR, infant infection, hyperlipidemia screening, undescended testis was insufficient. The knowledge level of specialist physicians on approach to premature baby, vaccination, vision screening, infant infection is higher than general practitioners; It was found that the knowledge level of general practitioners about vitamin D prophylaxis and heel blood was higher than that of specialist physicians. It was observed that physicians with more professional experience had more information about iron deficiency. CONCLUSION: Arrangements should be made for family physicians to be aware of the current guidelines, and it was thought that they should be trained regularly on baby follow-ups. However, the education of pediatric health and diseases needs to be revised regarding this issue. Keywords: Family doctor, baby follow up, knowledge level