October 2, 2014 – Parent Intervention

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Anchor lead:  Informed parents make for healthier kids, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Getting parents up to speed on what their kids need in terms of preventive health care may help overcome conclusions reached in a recent study showing that many children don’t come close to getting all the prevention they need.  Tina Cheng, a pediatrics expert at Johns Hopkins, says even with the best intentions, that can be quite a challenge.

Cheng: For parents, I think they should become as educated as they can be, on what services their kids need and what screenings their kids need.  It’s pretty complicated these days.  The immunization schedule is very complicated.  It used to be when I first started practicing fairly simple.  Now there’s many, many shots just to take immunizations as an example.  So educating themselves as much as they can on what they’re supposed to get at the different visits they have and talking with their physician.  :29

Cheng says parents also need to remember that prevention changes throughout their child’s lifetime, so continued vigilance is required.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.