The TEDDY Network pays particular attention to the theme of empowerment of paediatric patients in the healthcare field. Children’s active participation in the decision-making process is needed not only in the daily clinical practice, but also and especially in all the activities related to the development and use of drugs.
In the last years, the idea that children’s preferences should always be taken into consideration is agreed upon also among parents. For this reason, healthcare professionals have to consider children and families’ active participation as a fundamental step to reach consensus and compliance to treatments.
In 2012, following a large consultation phase, the Paediatric Committee (PDCO) issued a Concept Paper on the involvement of children and young people in its activities, with the children’s best interests as primary consideration.
In this sense, TEDDY Network is deeply involved and up to date. In particular, the following activities have been conducted:
- Videos (a spoonful of info helps the medicine go down & Clinical Trials in children: an empowered participation) and training material, specifically addressed to children explaining some main concepts on drugs and their use
- Development of age-appropriate informative material to duly inform children and families involved in clinical studies (e.g. DEEP project and GAPP project informative materials)
- Quality evaluation of informative materials addressed to paediatric patients involved in clinical trials
- Advisory group setup in the several international paediatric research projects
- Analysis of existing Young Person Advisory Groups and improvement of strategies to involve paediatric patients in the healthcare decisions (GRiP project activity)
- Participation to public consultations and roundtables on this topic
- Young Patients Advocacy Groups promotion among its members (already created KIDS Bari and KIDS Albania)
Considering that the setup of a child-friendly approach implies a collaborative and continuous action involving paediatricians and healthcare professionals, psychologists, families, children, the TEDDY Network’s engagement is constantly updated and renewed.
Moreover, TEDDY Network is always proactive in promoting important initiatives aimed to arise the community health awareness and support organizations dedicated to the communication of risks and dangers concerning children and teenage population.
Among these, TEDDY recognises and spread the activities carried out by Addiction Resource, an organization founded in 2014 to provide a community for those recovering from addiction and deliver resources to help patients find the highest quality care for a successful recovery.
At this link, you can find more information about the organization as well as several information about addiction troubles.
Furthermore, at this link is available a useful guide for parents and educators about the use of tobacco among teens.
Another important initiative, that TEDDY wants to support is the Community Safety Guide, an interesting action aimed to keep the public informed about consumer dangers and safety issues associated with numerous products that can cause the public harm. On the Consumer Safety Guide website it is possible find a constant updating on the most popular prescription medications and FDA‐approved medical devices that could be endangering health or putting people at risk. The aim is to keep people informed and help them make the most educated decisions about their health care.
Please click here to find further information about this initiative.