General Academic Pediatrics

Ethical questions can sometimes arise when caring for children—in cases where a child may have a terminal illness, or has suffered irreversible brain damage, or even simply when a doctor feels a child should be placed in palliative care. In the Rainbow Center for Pediatric Ethics, faculty and staff members oversee activities in the realm of clinical ethics, offer professional education, and conduct research. They assist physicians in determining the most useful questions to ask, in resolving conflicts, and in deciding what resources to consult. A current research project, for example, is focusing on issues of confidentiality in the adolescent patient/doctor relationship, particularly in regard to the question of requiring parental consent for vaccinations.

Rainbow serves as the hub for a Clinical Research Network—a consortium of 202 pediatric primary care physicians in 81 practices—that promotes opportunities for clinicians to advance pediatric knowledge. Network leaders facilitate collaboration among members and help clinicians overcome traditional barriers to conducting clinical research

The stated goals of the Network are to: 1) promote opportunities for pediatric clinical faculty to participate in practical and relevant clinical research, 2) facilitate and promote opportunities for full-time faculty to conduct office-based research, 3) increase collaboration among pediatric department faculty and clinical faculty.

Recent Network efforts include the federally funded Primary Care Network Survey (PRINS)—a study designed to identify medical practices that fit a specific profile needed for future studies, which include, for example, a planned study of how effectively pediatricians recognize maternal depression.