EiP Alliance of Parents' Groups
EIP stands for an open, embracing, and transparent way of working with paediatrics. As much as EIP values the contributions by its individual members, EIP also highly values the opportunity to work together with other organisations, institutions and groups. These can be medical associations, parents and patient groups, non-governmental and government organisations, corporate partners, media or policymakers. The fundamental idea is to work together, openly and transparently, with multiple stakeholders to achieve the best possible results to improve general paediatrics.
EIP Alliance of Parents’ Groups is a global action network amongst Parents' Groups and Patients' Associations, Societies and Organisations, who's main objective is to coordinate how paediatricians and parents can effectively join forces to improve children's health by facilitating the communications between professionals and parents.
The intent of EIP Alliance of Parents’ Groups is to promote the importance of unifying, and thereby strengthening, the individual efforts of Parents and Patients' Associations, Societies and Organisations in order to work collectively to influence societies, policymakers and key opinion leaders in order to ensure the delivery of high quality health care to children throughout the world.
The objectives are to:
- Develop and promote educational activities for parents, in order to improve parents' experiences when caring for their children
- Inform, educate, and guide parents on how to raise their children in a healthy manner, and how to address emerging medical concerns
- Help parents make the best choices for their children’s health and wellbeing
- Connect the best paediatric advice with parents, families and children
- Provide continual support and information on all children's healthcare issues
- Identify options that could be offered to parents to achieve the ideal outcome concerning the quality healthcare provided to their children
- Advise parents, who feel they have received inadequate or inappropriate healthcare advice
- Establish a working relationship with paediatricians in order to improve children's healthcare standards globally
Its activities are guided, developed and executed in collaboration with the Parents and Patients' Associations, Societies and Organisations who are actively involved in the EIP Alliance of Parents’ Groups.
EiP Parents' Talks
In contrast to most other medical specialties, paediatricians do not deal directly with patients who can or may take their own healthcare decisions. Parents are the primary decision makers for their patients. This requires, apart from immediate clinical skills, a good capacity to inform, educate, and guide parents how to raise their children in a healthy manner, and how to address emerging medical concerns.
The Excellence in Paediatrics Conference hosts Parent Talks, a novel way of connecting parents with the very best paediatric advice. Delivered during the Excellence in Paediatrics Conferences, content is streamed live through a variety of parents’ websites and via the Excellence in Paediatrics website.
EIP has launched Parents Talks to inform, educate, and guide parents on how to raise their children in a healthy manner. The Parents’ Talks are also addressing the emerging concerns with the increasing confusion about what online ‘knowledge’ related to child healthcare is actually scientifically evidence-based, and what is not. Ultimately, the goal is to help parents make the best choices for their children’s health and wellbeing. By addressing parents’ concerns directly, EIP aims to connect the best paediatric advice with parents, families and children.
Design
EIP, with the endorsement of relevant scientific bodies is running an online e-survey among parents to identify the major issues, the perceptions, the practices, and the knowledge levels in key target countries. With focus on user-friendliness and engaging questions for parents, the e-survey will motivate large groups of parents to respond. The survey is conducted, in the language of each target country, to facilitate maximum uptake, participation and engagement. To run the e-survey, EIP is cooperating with the leading parents’ website around the world. This powerful coalition of partners is providing a huge outreach. Such a universal survey has the potential to identify a unique consensus on what are the truly concerning lifestyle-related medical issues of the 21st century. Where are the real worries of all parents? For the first time, parental perceptions on lifestyle related health issues will be systematically recorded, with focus the common ground - but also the diversity – in countries and cultures. This invaluable knowledge will help us to fill the knowledge gap, design strategies and provide expert –led advice that directly helps parents.
Outcomes
EIP is dedicating a closed half-day session during the annual conference, Excellence in Paediatrics, to tackle the top ten lifestyle concerns raised in the e-survey. EIP invites Editors of parent’s websites and representatives of parent organisations and advocacy groups to actively participate in person, and to pose questions and comments online. The session starts with the presentation of the e-survey results. This will then be followed by ten key opinion leading Paediatricians who are presenting the scientific evidence; the background, and the consensus (if there is one) on the ten hot lifestyle health related topics. All presentations are prepared in a parent-friendly language to help them understand the evidence and ultimately to help them make the right decisions. All presentations are streamed live on EIP’s website, as well as being recorded for all parents to view and refer to for free. In addition, Parents’ Talks are distributed as e-learning sessions to parents through the cooperating parents’ websites alongside complementary educational materials.
To maximize the chances of upgrading current lifestyle behaviors, EIP is educating parents around the world. Adapted versions of the doctoral e-learning sessions will help parents understand why certain actions are needed, and why specific lifestyle changes may be desirable. Over time, this will inevitably help the work of paediatricians.
