Education in the pediatric clinic

The first thousand days of life are critical for children’s physical, emotional, and socio-cognitive development, deeply influencing their long-term health, well-being, and social inclusion. Parents’ lay knowledge echoes such scientific concerns more and more. Is my child growing enough? Is my baby’s behavior normal? Can I trust my friend’s advice? Am I a good parent? These are just a few of the many doubts that shake the everyday life of “new” parents. Pediatricians are among the first experts parents consult for support on a wide range of childcare issues like complementary feeding, pacifier use, sleep routines, vaccination, or developmental milestones. But how do these encounters unfold? What does the actual work of the pediatrician consist of? How do parents and pediatricians validate (or not) each other’s expertise in child wellbeing? Drawing on extensive video-ethnographic research, this book zooms into pediatric clinics to explore real-life conversations between parents and pediatricians. Through attentive observations of words, gestures, gazes, the volume illuminates the educational role of pediatricians: going far beyond the execution of medical tasks, pediatricians (can) provide emotional support and contribute to ratify and transmit cultural models of “normal” growth, “healthy” development, “good” caring practices, and “competent” parenting. The volume further sheds light on the work parents and pediatricians engage in to make their expertise count and make a difference in decision-making. While contemporary parents act as agentive, knowledgeable, (communicatively) competent, and caring, they still orient to the pediatrician’s epistemic and deontic authority.

Federica Ranzani, PhD, is an adjunct professor at the Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna. Her research interests include language, culture, and the management of knowledge in healthcare interactions; patient and family-centered care; interprofessional collaboration and organizational compassion in healthcare contexts and practices. She conducts ethnographic and video-based research on communication in pediatric encounters and primary care visits of unaccompanied foreign minors. Additionally, her work focuses on narrative care and the entanglement of care and cure in critical care settings and long-term pediatric hospital care.