Clinical Reference Systems: Pediatric Advisor 10.0

Suggestions for Content

We prefer variety in content and have shared child-raising and parenting experiences, both professional and personal. Parents of teens are only a little interested in the latest about breast-feeding or tugs of war with toddlers. On the other hand, new moms and dads aren't vitally concerned about the responsibility of the new driver or sex education. We try to run the gamut of topics for different age groups.

Some good topics are:

• tips about books, activities, and what works in disciplining
• responses from parents who want to share their anecdotes and experiences
• safety precautions for toddlers to teens, including seasonal information, warnings, and recommendations
• updates and information from the American Academy of Pediatrics
• when to call your favorite pediatrician and how to deal with "urgencies" and emergencies (although we also include this information in an office brochure to all new families)
• occasional reminders for parents on everything from scheduling ahead for annual exams, MMR reimmunization, and meeting with teachers to the best times to call in to have acutely ill children seen
• regional and special camps, parenting classes, seminars, and all manner of educational activities and support groups.

Each month, we try to include:

• a greeting, weather or garden comment, or current-event-type subject such as back-to-school concerns, holidays, how to talk to your children about war, or even "Brrrrr it's cold"
• information about seasonal bugs
• answers to "Stork Messages" (This name comes from a small basket for questions and comments held by a wooden stork in the waiting rooms of both of our offices. The sharing and answering of patients' questions are what makes this a fun piece of work. Even though we tell our parents we've heard it all before, they come up with some wonderful surprises!)
• illustrations -- smiley faces, frowning faces, and little characters ("clip art") here and there (the printshop has some choices available, as does the desktop publishing software).

A newsletter offers many opportunities to send the message that each child is special and develops in his or her own individual way from early on and is still very normal.

We offer reassurance to all involved in the process of raising and caring for children, stressing that parenting is a lifelong learning process and that so far we haven't found any perfect parents or perfect children. We try to impart humor in our articles and reassure parents that their problems are not unique or weird. We also try to reduce guilt and help parents modify their expectations about what's realistic for their children. We remind our parents that we are their partners in the parenting process and advocates for them and for their children.

"News and Clues" has humanized the office by having another communication avenue available. It has shown that physicians are people too. People love to hear that their favorite pediatricians are golf enthusiasts or tennis nuts or adore their dogs and anything else that's of interest outside the office.

Pets, sibling rivalry, school phobia, allergies, chores, responsibilities, immunizations, colds, flus, chickenpox, allowances, tantrums, weaning, potty training, whining, lying, swearing have all been part of the content and context of our newsletters. You'll never run out of subjects to share.

A Writing Style

Your newsletter language should be friendly, positive, uncomplicated, and personal. You definitely do not want the newsletter to read like a medical journal or a scientific paper. If you do, it will not be read at all. Although we had some disagreement on writing style in the beginning, we've enjoyed success with a personal, familiar, chatty context.