How to Talk to Your Child's Doctor: A Handbook for Parents

A two-year-old develops a nasty cough and after experiencing breathing problems, his concerned parents take him to the emergency room. The doctor on call diagnoses his symptoms as croup, prescribes treatment, but days later the cough is no better. After another trip to the emergency room, x-rays, respiratory therapy, and treatment for asthma, the little boy still cannot shake his cough and breathing difficulties. Finally, two weeks later, the family doctor suggests an examination by an ear-nose-and-throat specialist. Using a bronchoscope, the specialist finds a small piece of plastic from a toy lodged in the edge of the child’s trachea. After removing the obstruction, the boy returns to normal within a day. In fact, he never had croup or asthma.

Could this lengthy, frustrating experience have been avoided?

In this illuminating guide to communicating with your child’s doctor, pediatrician Christopher M. Johnson shows parents how to talk more effectively to their doctors about their children’s health. Johnson takes the nonmedical layperson into the mindset of the physician examining a sick child for the first time. He demonstrates how doctors evaluate symptoms, interpret answers to their questions, and decide on a course of treatment. The book invites and then empowers parents to join their child’s doctor as a partner in the diagnostic and therapeutic process. Each chapter ends with a communication checklist to help parents find the right words while visiting the doctor.


Dr. Johnson covers the following topics:

The medical history and why it is so important
How and why the doctor examines your child
How a doctor uses lab tests
How a doctor arrives at a diagnosis
Time-honored medical wisdom that all doctors rely on
The difference between specific treatments and supportive care when a diagnosis is uncertain
Consulting specialists along with the family physician
The final chapter encourages the reader to become a sort of "junior doctor" by presenting several real-life cases and challenging the reader to work through the problem as a physician would.

This jargon-free and completely accessible guidebook will enable you to assist your child’s doctor in the vital work of effectively caring for your child in health and illness.