A recent study in Pediatrics suggests that patients (in this case, mothers) are not receiving consistent information and advice from their providers—Maternal Report of Advice Received for Infant Care (Eisenberg et al, August 2015)

“Mothers commonly report receiving either no advice or recommendation inconsistent advice from each of the four sources we studied [doctors, birth hospital nurses, family, and media] regarding immunization, breastfeeding, sleep position, sleep location and pacifier use.”

Before you brush off this data as just an attack on overworked nurses and doctors who are drowning in paperwork and EHR integration, I’d like to offer a different perspective.

Why is it so hard to understand—and apply—this concept?

With good information (i.e., reliable data) that is easily accessible, you have the power to change the world. Well, perhaps not the entire world, but your own part of it!

Decades after vaccines effectively wiped out serious diseases such as polio, measles and mumps in the United States, immunization—particularly for children—continues to be debated and even avoided. A notable minority of parents don’t keep up with their children’s vaccine schedule or forego immunization, citing concerns about vaccine safety, a link to autism (despite the lack of any definitive evidence), “too many” vaccines in the early childhood years, or their child’s distress at receiving an injection.