Paediatric training programs need to shift their focus from infectious diseases to mental health conditions, which are now more prevalent and deadlier, says US paediatrician and researcher Dr Cori Green. 

Dr Green is the lead author of  a study showing few paediatric trainees feel they have high levels of competence in the treating children with behavioural and mental health conditions.

“Paediatric training programs have never adequately prepared paediatricians to assess and treat children with behavioural or mental health problems,” said Dr Green, the director of behavioural health education and integration in paediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine/New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

When paediatrics first became its own discipline, there was a focus on infectious diseases because they were the leading cause of mortality in children, she said.