During a busy visit to your office as a practitioner checking on a child's physical and cognitive development and answering questions about what to expect in the coming months, there is often little time left to discuss vaccines. And yet, with eight out of 10 parents having questions about their children’s vaccination situation, clearly this is an important conversation to have. With so much misinformation on the web and social media, this can be a stressful and polarizing encounter. So today our topic is how to speak to your patients about vaccinating their child.
We invited Dr Taylor Bean to share her expertise and experience in talking to parents about vaccines. Dr Bean has written and spoken extensively about immunity and vaccine optimization. Dr Bean will also reveal clinical protocols she has developed to help support children’s immune systems if their parents choose to have them vaccinated.
Key Take-Aways
Vaccination dilemma
Many patients are looking for answers to the often tough questions surrounding vaccines for their children. Today more and more parents struggle with whether to vaccinate their kids, as vaccines and their administration have changed so much over past decades.
Key role of the practitioner
Parents’ questions often arise from information they find on the Internet, which they bring to their primary caregiver. Often these parents will receive pushback from the doctor who seems to want to shut the conversation down, maybe doesn't have the answers, or maybe doesn't have the time to give the answers. This is a missed opportunity for the practitioner to build trust with the parents in an open and honest exchange.
Informed consent
Informed consent means consent that has been voluntarily given by a patient or authorized decision maker who is legally capable of giving consent. This person has to be fully informed about the nature of the proposed care, including how it relates to the patient's condition, the risks, the benefits, and any available alternatives to the proposed care. Often, little time is made available for parents to become fully informed as to what vaccination of their children means.
Building trust
The expectation is that as a professional you are the expert. So when questions are raised by parents it is important to answer them, but if you cannot answer a question, then you should be very clear that you do not know. Here, stronger trust is built between you and the patient because you know that you are being honest.
Vaccine optimization
Vaccine optimization means helping with vaccine efficacy using a vaccine pre- and post-protocol. The protocol can include testing to see if the patient has immunity to certain infections, and assessment if the child has responded to the vaccine or not. Also, nutrigenetic testing will determine if there is any possibility that the genetics of a person could hinder their response in terms of making antibodies to optimize protection.
Supplementation
It is important to consider developing a protocol that supports mom and baby with supplements to help make the vaccines more efficient and effective. Supplements that can assist include vitamin D3, vitamin C, vitamin A, glutathione, and probiotics. All of these products help boost immunity working in concert with vaccines.
Key Quote
“As practitioners, we have to always remember that it is the patient's choice. The choice is always in their hands, and it's our duty to provide unbiased information so that they can make an informed decision. That's our duty. And it needs to be clear, transparent and evidence based.”
Dr Taylor Bean
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The opinions expressed in this Nutramedica program are those of the guests and contributors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Nutritional Fundamentals For Health Inc.
This video is intended for licensed or registered health professionals and students of health professions only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information contained in these programs are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
