Pediatricians' Approach to Eye Diseases in Balıkesir Province, Turkey

Pediatricians' Approach to Eye Diseases in Balıkesir Background: It is aimed to evaluate the approaches of pediatricians and their assistants who work in Balikesir province to eye diseases and their applications in this field. Methods: 39 pediatricians and 9 specialty students working in Balikesir, and its districts were reached. The data were collected using a 21-question questionnaire completed by the physicians themselves. SPSS 21.0 program was used to evaluate the data. Results: 39 specialists and 9 physician assistants completed the questionnaires and participated in our study. 33 physicians answered yes (68.8%) and 15 answered no (31.2%) to the question of "Do you know the Brückner test?". 16 physicians answered yes (33.3), 22 answered no (45.8%), 2 answered frequently (4.2%), and 8 answered rarely (16.7%) to the question of "Do you use the Brückner test?". 2 of the physicians (4.2%) answered yes, 30 (62.5%) answered no and 16 (33,3%) answered that they do when needed to the question of “Do you perform direct ophthalmoscope examination for pediatric patients?”. 8 physicians answered yes (16.7%), 18 physicians answered no (37.5%), and 22 answered partially (45.8%) to the question of "Do you think that the internship training on eye diseases you received at the Faculty of Medicine is sufficient?". When the physicians who answered no or partially were asked about the reason for this, the most common reason was that they had less opportunity to practice during the internship (87.5%). Conclusion: It is also the responsibility of pediatricians to evaluate eye health, which is part of routine health checks in newborns and childhood. Therefore, in order to ensure that pediatricians have sufficient equipment and knowledge about the basic screening tests used to assess eye health, the necessary measures should be taken both during medical faculty and specialty training