Postdoctoral Fellowship: A Clinical Ethnography of Pediatric Medicine

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research will explore cultural ideals of childhood and how they shape and inform pediatric practices to heal children. In addition it will explore how pediatric practices reproduce ideals of childhood. The proposed research will contribute to providing improved support and education for patients' families and the healthcare delivery system for children. It will contribute to the creation of a new model that describes how science and technology in bio-medicine are impacting childhood. Outcomes of the proposed research will be a blog to provide and share information to and between patient families. Publications from this proposed research will educate new patient families, pediatric practitioners, hospital administrators, social workers, child life specialists and educators as to ways to support patients and their families. The proposed research will study how contemporary constructions of childhood shape medicine and will explore how they are reproduced through the everyday routines and practices of a pediatric hospital in the United States. The proposed research will employ ethnographic research methods, including one year of observation in a pediatric hospital, visits to other pediatric hospitals, and interviews with hospital staff and patient families. It will investigate how the process of healing children is understood and actualized by pediatric practitioners, patients and their families. The proposed research will contribute to improving healthcare delivery through data that will inform the administration of treatment protocols, the management of hospital resources, older children transitioning to adult care, and the identification of inequities in the distribution of healthcare.