We were all children, many of us will have children, and our children will have children. So we all have a stake in this. Dr. Schreiner advises pediatric clinical researchers to ensure that parents have the answers to the following questions before signing a consent form. A child's pediatrician may ask for a child's participation based on the pediatrician's knowledge of the child's medical history. If a child is hospitalized or is being seen in a clinic, parents may be approached directly by an investigator or a clinical coordinator.
Some hospitals maintain a database of patients and diagnoses.
The database may be searched if researchers are looking for children with a particular disease or condition. In a hospital setting, physicians meet at least once a week to review challenging cases. It's very important that parents do not feel pressured into making a decision, especially if the person making the request is the child's pediatrician. A drug study should always be a match for the child. Obviously, a child should not participate in the study of an epilepsy drug unless the child has epilepsy.