Vulnerable Infants and Children course for Medical Doctors

This session will look at types of vulnerability that you are likely to encounter in children and young people you see in your everyday practice. It links in closely with the previous module Family health and with the modules ahead. It should encourage you to think of child vulnerability in a broad and thoughtful way.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Explain what is meant by ‘vulnerable’ and list four categories of vulnerability factors
• List three factors which make a child vulnerable and the effects they can have on a child
• Explain the importance of early intervention in improving outcomes
• Outline some of the challenges of providing child health promotion services to vulnerable children and give examples of strategies for overcoming these challenges

Due to their age, a child will always be more at risk of coming to harm in adverse circumstances due to their limited capacity for self-protection. These factors may be multiple and interplay to increase the risk to the child further, which we will explore in this session.

Identifying vulnerable children is important in order to improve outcomes through early intervention and prevent problems from escalating and the child coming to harm.