I endorse the wise words expressed by Dr Muhammad in relation to talking to children. I am sure that in all countries of the world, there are many parents who are not happy about doctors talking to their children or teenagers as autonomous persons and as Dr Muhammad suggests, we need to be the agents of change.
This requires at least three stages of action:
1. developing the skill to talk to children and engage in a friendly and trusting way
2. explaining to the parents why we are doing this and the benefits to them of including thir young people in the consultation, and modelling this process (which should be adopted by all the staff in the clinic)
3. teaching students and doctors in training (and other disciplines too) about the need to give children and young people a voice, to explain their condition in simple terms and to listen to their views and feelings
This is such an important part of clinical teaching in child health and needs to be given a higher priority in both undergraduate and postgraduate training.
Tony Waterston
CHIFA profile: Tony Waterston is a retired consultant paediatrician who worked mainly in the community in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He spent 6 years working in Zambia and Zimbabwe and directed the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Diploma in Palestinian Child Health teaching programme in the occupied Palestinian territories. He was an Editor of the Journal of Tropical Pediatrics and is on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Social Pediatrics. His academic interests are child poverty, advocacy for child health and children's rights. He is currently the lead moderator of CHIFA (HIFA's sister forum on child health and rights). www.chifa.org He is also a member of the HIFA Steering Group. www.hifa.org/people/steering-group<http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group>www.hifa.org/support/members/<... Tony.Waterston AT newcastle.ac.uk
