Development of otorhinological care of the child

During the last third of the 20th century, pediatric otolaryngology became a defined specialty in many nations, resulting in focused training, fellowships, societies, journals, textbooks, etc. This development occurred as a result of an interaction between the changing sociological and economic status of the child and medical advances. In this paper the history of the status of children is investigated during the Reformation/Counter-Reformation, Enlightenment and Romantic periods, and during the recent era of Entitlement, and an analysis is made of the relationships between otolaryngological care of children during these periods, including a consideration of selected medical advances made during the 17th to 21st centuries, and the evolving status of children. Advances in education of the deaf, understanding the role of the adenoid and care of the airway were applied to the child patient not directly, as it may sometimes seem to physicians caring for a patient in a hands-on fashion, but rather via the bridge of the social and economic context of the time. This interactive process created a special body of knowledge that is now applied in a society that places a high value on the child. In the second half of the 20th century, i.e. during the period of Entitlement, the otolaryngological needs of the child became a demand, based in part upon a need for care of airway pathology in the premature infant, which fostered the establishment of pediatric otolaryngology as a specialty.