Parents and Their Children's Doctors

At face value, a medical encounter involving a parent, child, and physician should be relatively straightforward. A family perceives the need for assistance for an acute illness or health promotion and seeks help. The physician identifies the child’s (family’s) need and seeks to meet that need. An encounter, however, can be a complex process involving a host of motivations, expectations, and fears. When the process goes well, there is potential for good, but when the process breaks down, harm may occur, affecting the child immediately or making future encounters less productive. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the complexities of the relationships between parents and their children’s physicians. Included is description of a model of how parents, children, and physicians interact and a discussion of the characteristics of parents and physicians that may affect their interactions. The literature concerning patient satisfaction as evidence of how well these relationships work and of the consequences of dissatisfaction is examined next. Finally, some practical advice for parents and physicians that can help promote productive interactions on behalf of children is provided.