Objective: The delay or disorders of infant motor development require early screening and treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibilities to assess infant motor development disorders in primary health care institutions of central part of Lithuania.
Materials and methods: The original questionnaires were sent to primary health care institutions of Kaunas district. One-hundred-forty-eight questionnaires with answers of General Practitioners and Pediatricians returned to investigators.
Results: Analysing the data we found that one physician in average takes care of 28.8 +/- 18.4 infants, among these infants 3.55 +/- 4.2 have disorders of motor development. Most of the doctors (92.6%) evaluate the infant motor development, but use only the method of routine clinical assessment. Very few physicians (4.8%) use very precise methods of assessment (Munich diagnostic scheme or Bobath method). Among all doctors 66.9% expressed the will to asses infant motor development by themselves in primary health care clinic.
Conclusions: We conclude, that General Practitioners and Pediatricians feel the lack of competence and assistant aids for the assessment of motor development disorders in infants.