Rationale
Pediatricians and other physicians who provide care to children have the obligation
to promote the well-being and health of infants, children and adolescents, which
includes the need to intervene when these are threatened. Although most children
in this country enjoy good health, medical as well as social problems can have
adverse impacts on a child's well-being. Children in low-income or dysfunctional
families have a higher incidence of disease and have less access to health supervision
and preventive services and to acute illness care than their more affluent counterparts.
Pediatricians, in particular, have assumed many different advocacy roles: They
frequently serve as advocates for individual children and families and function
as consultants to schools and health care agencies. Their efforts at legislative
change have resulted in regulations that have developed of immunization programs,
improved car safety, reduced the incidence of toxic ingestions and enhanced
the funding of health care for children. Internationally, pediatricians have
been active in a broad range of issues. Students must recognize their obligations,
as future physicians, to be advocates for their patients and families.
Objectives
- Recognize that physicians must serve as advocates
for infants, children and adolescents because they are
frequently unable to advocate for themselves in a
variety of institutional and policy making
settings.
- Identify specific issues where child advocacy by physicians has resulted
in improvements in child health.
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