In this special follow-up episode, Dr. Mona shares the full live conversation recorded at Children’s Hospital Colorado in front of more than 100 clinicians. The discussion centers on a reality many pediatricians and parents are facing every day: families are no longer walking into the exam room with just their child, they are also bringing TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, viral clips, and online comment sections with them.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How social media is reshaping the pediatric exam room

• Why misinformation spreads so effectively among parents

• Common mistakes clinicians make when responding to hesitant families

• How validation can lower defensiveness without validating false claims

• Vaccine conversations, trust-building, and shared decision-making

• Why pediatricians need to understand the digital world parents live in

• How AI, telehealth, and online education may shape the future of care

Check out the video of this episode on ⁠Charting Pediatrics YouTube page⁠.

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00;00;00;04 – 00;00;18;23

Dr. Mona

Welcome back to the show. It’s Doctor Mona, and I actually have a special follow up episode for today. Normally on Mondays, I revisit a past episode of our show and pull out the moments that still matter, but today is a little different. About a month ago, I flew to Colorado for a live podcast event at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

 

00;00;19;00 – 00;00;45;07

Dr. Mona

We recorded in front of more than 100 clinicians, and we talked about something that is shaping every exam room right now. Social media and how it’s influencing modern parents. What happens when families walk in not just with their child, but with TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, a viral reel and a comment section in their back pocket. We talked about misinformation, fear based content, what freezes lower defensiveness, and how pediatricians can build trust in a school first world.

 

00;00;45;10 – 00;01;05;22

Dr. Mona

I also had the chance to tour the facilities, see the innovation happening there? And as someone building a telehealth startup, I was fascinated by how hospital systems are thinking about the future of care and technology. And I have to share my favorite moment. One of the residents who has followed me for years on this platform was so genuinely excited to meet me in person.

 

00;01;05;24 – 00;01;31;01

Dr. Mona

Asia, this is your shout out. Your excitement meant more than you could possibly know. So today, instead of a rewind, I am sharing that full live conversation. Take a listen and if you want the video version, head over to my YouTube channel where you can watch the collaboration with Children’s Hospital Colorado. Let’s get into it.

 

00;01;31;04 – 00;02;03;20

Dr. David Brumbaugh

A parent walks into your exam room, but in 2026, they’re not alone. They’ve brought TikTok. They brought Instagram. They brought a comment section, a conspiracy thread and a viral video with 12 million views. Welcome to Modern Pediatrics. 

 

Dr. Dan Nyquist

Yeah, you guys. In this live episode charting pediatrics, we’re going to dive into the digital ecosystem that helps shape our parents the way they think, the way they worry, and the way they decide.

 

00;02;03;22 – 00;02;17;22

Dr. Dan Nyquist

And it’s it’s not background noise anymore. It’s actually helping parents co-parent and sometimes supportively, sometimes loudly and unfortunately, sometimes recklessly.

 

00;02;17;24 – 00;02;44;09

Dr. Allison Brink

And let’s explore how misinformation spreads faster than measles. That’s pretty impressive alone. And why does fear go viral and how pediatricians can regain their trusted role for the care of all patients. And we’re not fighting the internet. We’re just learning. How do we practice within the internet?

 

00;02;44;11 – 00;03;14;17

Dr. David Brumbaugh

This is charting pediatrics. I’m Doctor David Brumbaugh, practicing pediatric allergist and chief medical officer here at children’s. And I’m joined by my two amazing colleagues, Doctor Dan Nyquist and Doctor Allison Brink. 

 

Dr. Dan Nyquist

Thanks, David. I am a general academic, pediatrician and an educator. I’m the medical director at the pediatric call center here and also the clinical medical director of the Child Health Clinic, which is our primary care medical home.

 

00;03;14;20 – 00;03;28;12

Dr. Allison Brink

And I’m a pediatric emergency medicine physician here at Children’s Colorado, and also have the honor to be the medical director for the physician relations team. And all three of us, teach at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

 

00;03;28;14 – 00;04;04;10

Dr. David Brumbaugh

And thank you both. And now I’m happy to introduce our guest of honor. We’re so excited to welcome doctor Mona Amin to the stage, as well as to Colorado flying in all the way from South Florida. She’s a board certified pediatrician, mother of two, and founder of the incredible podcast PedsDocTalk Podcast, which is part of her globally recognized platform, PedsDocTalk, reaching over 2 million people with evidence based guidance, actionable tips, and reliable insights on child health, child development, and parenting.

 

00;04;04;12 – 00;04;05;23

Dr. David Brumbaugh

Mona, welcome to the podcast.

 

00;04;05;26 – 00;04;11;28

Dr. Mona

Thank you for having me. Thank you for that wonderful, beautiful intro and so happy to be amongst great company today.

 

00;04;12;01 – 00;04;26;00

Dr. David Brumbaugh

So, Mona, from your perspective as an expert in this space, how would you describe the current landscape of parenting with the influence of social media and how it’s impacting how parents are entering a pediatrician’s office?

 

00;04;26;03 – 00;04;49;10

Dr. Mona

You know, I recently recorded a podcast episode on my own podcast called parenting in 2026, like we’re in 1996. And part of that was the fact that in 2026, we are dealing with parents with a lot of over information and over information is not always healthy, right? Back in the day, you maybe had your aunt, your mom, the pediatrician, your best friend to give you guidance.

 

00;04;49;17 – 00;05;10;03

Dr. Mona

Now you have those people, plus all the people online that are telling you to do this. This isn’t safe for your child. This is safe for your child. Don’t get this. Drink raw milk. Do this. And so the parent is now not only parenting their kid, they’re getting so much information from so many different people. And so that overwhelm is their number one.

 

00;05;10;05 – 00;05;35;20

Dr. Mona

So parents are starting to lose their intuition. And the number two, so much of that information is misinformation. And we know that you mentioned, you know, it’s spreading faster than measles. And I’m seeing that every day when I create content, when I’m looking at what content to create that parents are just overwhelmed. They’re misinformed. And at the end they’re just trying to do the best for their child with a lot of bad info out there.

 

00;05;35;22 – 00;05;59;17

Dr. David Brumbaugh

It’s an amazing thought. Intuition lost in the face of overwhelming information. 

 

Dr. Dan Nyquist

So I’ve actually seen this play out in real time. I was in the office a couple of weeks ago, and I had a child who was struggling with sleep, and we know a lot of times that sleep hygiene is probably at the root of the problem. But the mother asked me about tart cherry juice.

 

00;05;59;20 – 00;06;23;10

Dr. Dan Nyquist

And she said it has really good evidence that I was like a little taken aback because I had never heard of that. And I came out of the room and I mentioned it to some of my colleagues, nurses, medical assistance, other providers, and they said, oh, that’s a big TikTok sensation right now. So, anyway, how do you feel social media has changed the way parents understand or misunderstand health information?

 

00;06;23;17 – 00;06;43;04

Dr. Mona

So we are getting consumed and bombarded with so many micro moments of content. So, you know, maybe you read a newspaper or back in the day, maybe you read an article. Now imagine getting multiple three minutes or 92nd clips as you scroll. That is your brain as a parent getting fed so much information at so many different time.

 

00;06;43;04 – 00;07;07;00

Dr. Mona

So we talked about that over information. But with that comes what do I do with this information and what do I how do I make sense of that. So you are now as a general pediatrician, Subspecialists, wherever you are in the ecosystem of being a pediatric, doctor, you are now having to do all the work that you do and also combat or provide nuance or explain that information to that parent.

 

00;07;07;02 – 00;07;28;04

Dr. Mona

So not only has it made the parents job harder, I think it’s also made our jobs harder to be able to say, what are you talking about? Shoes. I mean, I can go. There’s a laundry list of things that I hear, and I’m like, oh my. And that’s kind of what started to talk. I would get people coming in with what sounds like the most benign things, but I’m like, why are you worried about this?

 

00;07;28;04 – 00;07;45;09

Dr. Mona

Like, this should not be from all the things that we can worry about as a parent, let’s talk about why we’re dealing with this, why you feel concern about what you read online, and let’s combat that with the education we have with the evidence we have and with the experience we have. And so much of that does not come on social media.

 

00;07;45;16 – 00;08;02;02

Dr. Mona

I think anyone who consumes content or creates will know that a lot of what’s happening is not nuanced, right? Because nuance isn’t sexy. You get you get views by clickbait, right? This is harmful. You don’t do this. You can’t do this. You’re going to get this vaccine, your kids, something’s going to happen. And so that’s what goes viral.

 

00;08;02;08 – 00;08;21;27

Dr. Mona

But I’m trying to do this. A lot of my colleagues online are trying to make that nuance sexy again, that we want people to click on the nuance, understand that there’s no one way to do things, but you also have to support the evidence, and you also have to listen to people who actually are doing this day to day like myself, like you all getting on this podcast talking about these things.

 

00;08;21;27 – 00;08;26;02

Dr. Mona

So we can actually help families make the best decision for themselves.

 

00;08;26;04 – 00;08;38;14

Dr. Allison Brink

So, Mona, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Give us a really juicy example. Sexy or not sexy about where social media impacted a family’s decision, either good, bad or indifferent.

 

00;08;38;16 – 00;08;57;04

Dr. Mona

So I think the biggest example here that anyone can relate to is vaccines. And I’m going to give the example of what happened in my office. And then maybe one positive thing about happened what happened online. So in the office, I think we all have that feeling. If you’re a general pediatrician, you’re starting that conversation and then you’re like, so today’s vaccines are going to be blah, blah, blah, right?

 

00;08;57;10 – 00;09;12;03

Dr. Mona

And then you get that pause. The parents look at each other, and then you sense that this is going to be a long conversation. And so, you know, I hear I see that they start to say, well, we’re not going to do that today. And then already you’re like, am I going to have to spend 20 minutes in this battle?

 

00;09;12;05 – 00;09;34;23

Dr. Mona

And so then I say, why are we thinking that? Well, I read online that, you know, there’s microchips or I read online. The one that comes to mind right now is that I read online that it’s causes autism, which has been said for many years now. And then I talk them through it. I explain what we know, I explain how I vaccinate my own children on schedule, and in that situation, the parents said no.

 

00;09;34;23 – 00;09;53;11

Dr. Mona

And a lot of the times what I’m noticing is that it’s often friction between the caregivers to it’s mom maybe wanting to do it, and dad saying, I’m absolutely not. Or vice versa. And so that is example of like when I’m trying to get through to them and in a small visit that we have no, that they say, okay, well we’re not going to do this.

 

00;09;53;14 – 00;10;10;07

Dr. Mona

And then on the flip side, when I get those messages online, because I have actually a free vaccine guide that I have created that’s available for everybody, goes through every single vaccine. Why it was created that everything I’ve seen clinically, the side effects, the benefits, why we need to do this. And I will make that available for my platform.

 

00;10;10;14 – 00;10;29;12

Dr. Mona

And there was a mom who messaged me, and I get multiple messages like this that say, hey, my husband was on the fence or I was on the fence and we read your vaccine guide, and we ended up vaccinating our kid on schedule, and he’s doing great. And I want to thank you for taking the time to just explain things so beautifully that didn’t feel like you were judging me.

 

00;10;29;18 – 00;10;47;20

Dr. Mona

That made me feel like you’re just providing evidence and information and that I, as a parent, got to make that choice for my kid. And that to me, shows the two sides. Right? And to be honest, as a clinician, it can be so hard having those conversations in the office because of time. Like, I don’t want to I I’ve been there.

 

00;10;47;20 – 00;11;06;00

Dr. Mona

I was in a 40 to 45 patient a day practice. And the moment you feel that dissent, you’re like, okay, I’m going to be stuck here. There’s going to be patients waiting, knocks on the door. And so I created this platform with the mission of like trying to help myself and my colleagues have a way of saying, here’s an information if you want better reading.

 

00;11;06;00 – 00;11;14;10

Dr. Mona

That’s not misinformation, you know, and I think we can do that so well and direct people to the right resources. If we can’t do it ourselves online.

 

00;11;14;12 – 00;11;35;27

Dr. David Brumbaugh

So I think that that was beautiful, and I think all of us want to hear how Dan responded to the family about the tart cherry juice

 

Dr. Dan Nyquist

Before we hear that. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the biggest mistakes the clinicians can make in responding to families that have brought in information that they got on social media. That’s misinformation.

 

00;11;36;00 – 00;11;49;09

Dr. Mona

So I do a lot of parenting education on my platform, and the reason I’m bringing that up is that how you would speak to a child is similar to how you would speak to someone who’s not agreeing with you, right? If your child is going through something and you’re like, just it doesn’t matter. What are you talking about?

 

00;11;49;16 – 00;12;09;05

Dr. Mona

They’re going to stop listening to you. But if your child comes to you and says, hey, mommy, I feel this way, and you’re like, hey, tell me more about it. Like, what makes you feel that way already? You’ve created the connection. So I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is that assumption that that conversation isn’t going to go anywhere, that we, if there already hesitance that they’re not going to do the vaccine.

 

00;12;09;06 – 00;12;26;21

Dr. Mona

There’s no point having the conversation. But I always like to put our patients into buckets. You have the pro-vaccine that are like, give me anything you have a vaccine. I’ll take all of them together today. Then you have your. Absolutely not. Big Pharma is a sham. You’re a shill. Those families you’re not really going to get through, right?

 

00;12;26;21 – 00;12;44;10

Dr. Mona

They’ve made their decision up. But then you have the large majority. That’s vaccine curious and vaccine hesitant. And I think we make the mistake of thinking those families we can’t get through to. So the first thing you got to do is validate, which is what we talk about so much in parenting, right? I hear what you’re saying, and that can be scary.

 

00;12;44;10 – 00;12;59;19

Dr. Mona

As a parent, I, I would feel the same way when we’re putting something into our kids body. But tell me what you heard. You know, tell me where you’re coming from. What did you read? What did you listen to? And then once you hear where they are, like, you know, I read about this autism. Do you want me to tell you where I feel about that?

 

00;12;59;26 – 00;13;24;18

Dr. Mona

Right. You can’t assume that they want to hear that. You ask them as a conversation and then you get into that. And I have been able to switch the mind of so many parents by meeting them with the validation, with the compassion and following through with that shared interest and shared understanding that we both are on the same page, that we care so deeply about your child, that this isn’t about I’m promoting pharma, that I’m doing this, that you’re a bad parent.

 

00;13;24;18 – 00;13;41;07

Dr. Mona

No, I think you’re a wonderful parent. And because you’re a wonderful parent, I know, like myself, we are going to make the best decision for your child, which for me is vaccinating on schedule. And once they hear that I’m not this like monster, that’s like, well, then get out my office. Like, you don’t need to be here. Like, what are you doing?

 

00;13;41;09 – 00;13;57;10

Dr. Mona

I’m just open the door to communication. I’ve opened the door for them to feel safe, to ask the questions. And even if they don’t get it that day, which I’ve had situations, I say, hey, look, I’m always here. You can come back tomorrow. You can come back next week. I will always be open for you to get this.

 

00;13;57;10 – 00;14;12;09

Dr. Mona

And I’ve had so many parents come back the next week and say, hey, I ended up getting the vaccine, or they do one vaccine at a time because that’s what they want to do. And I say, hey, we can do them all together next time. And they’re like, doctor, you’re right, that kid did great. And I’m like, I know.

 

00;14;12;12 – 00;14;35;29

Dr. Mona

And and then they end up getting them all together. And rather than saying, you have to do it this way, you can’t do this. I’ve just opened up this door of validation communication and that I am on your team versus that this is us versus them. And then that second mistake I think we often make, and we talked about this the other day, is the ego that we sometimes create that if you’re not listening to me, the expert, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

 

00;14;36;01 – 00;14;54;21

Dr. Mona

Parents are the experts for their children. You know they want the best for their kid. So we have to drop that ego and say, I need to listen to this parent in front of me. I need to listen. Why their concern so that I can better combat that issue versus going on tangents that don’t really matter than that they’re not really worried about.

 

00;14;54;23 – 00;14;59;00

Dr. Dan Nyquist

You know, I feel so lucky that a part of my job is to train residents in.

 

00;14;59;11 – 00;15;25;05

Dr. Dan Nyquist

Primary care. And I think one of the things that I try to impart is that connection with patients in primary care is one of the most powerful things we do. It is actually one of the greatest healing powers we have is to sit and listen and you’ve just described how to do that effectively. How do you do that effectively as you described, without validating misinformation?

 

00;15;25;08 – 00;15;42;02

Dr. Mona

I think that the phrase I like to use is that we are in agreement about their understanding, but we’re not in agreement about their conclusion. So what that means is that you can feel like worried about your child, but you’re never going to drop the evidence that you know, and that’s how you stay true to what we know.

 

00;15;42;09 – 00;16;05;18

Dr. Mona

So an example of how I do this is say, hey, I know that you’re concerned about the autism risk. I want to let you know that every research study that has been done, what I’ve seen in my practice, what I know about the genetics of autism, does not point to that. And I also want you to know that as a mother myself, as a mother who had a child with medical needs, I also felt nervous about vaccines because my son had a seizure.

 

00;16;05;18 – 00;16;28;16

Dr. Mona

And DTaP can increase the federal risk seizure. And when I throw in those stories and I explain that we are coming at this as from a place of love, but that I will not back down from the evidence. And so they are never going to be able to sway me in saying, well, vaccines are dangerous. And so when it gets to that point, I have to I’ve had to say it sounds as if we are just in disagreement of where the science is at right now.

 

00;16;28;19 – 00;16;43;16

Dr. Mona

We are in disagreement of where things stand, and I want you to know that I will always be available if you want to discuss what that means for the future. But as of right now, you can’t ever let me say that that’s not a safe thing to do, that the benefits don’t outweigh the risks. And so that’s where it kind of comes.

 

00;16;43;16 – 00;17;01;08

Dr. Mona

So you have to accept the understanding but not agree on the conclusion. And that’s how you know that you’re staying true to the science to the evidence. And I want to really throw in to the experience that we have. You know, evidence is one thing, but I think people really want to hear the personal aspect. Like I vaccinate my child.

 

00;17;01;11 – 00;17;23;24

Dr. Mona

If you’re not a parent, my nephews, you know, I can see how that’s hard. My colleagues vaccinate and we do this because we see the benefit not only for our child but for the greater good. And whether they choose to take that as like, you know what? I’ll do it or sorry, I’m leaving, that’s on them. But you practice medicine with so much integrity, and that makes me leave feeling like I did a good thing.

 

00;17;23;27 – 00;17;57;27

Dr. Allison Brink

You know, whatever specialty we have, whether it’s primary care, GI, emergency medicine, you can walk into a room and that friction is palpable. Whether it’s the parents disagreeing, sometimes the grandparents are there, the extended family is there. And it doesn’t have to be just about vaccines. For me, it can be a lot of different things. And you talk about some great examples, but is there an overarching framework that we can work from to really remove the friction and achieve the trust, which is what we’re all looking for?

 

00;17;58;00 – 00;18;00;28

Dr. Allison Brink

Ego aside, how do we build that trust?

 

00;18;01;01 – 00;18;26;08

Dr. Mona

I think one of the ways that I’ve seen myself building trust, especially after going online, right, because I started my career inpatient or outpatient, didn’t really go on to the online world. Is putting your shoes, putting yourself in the shoes of the perspective of the person with that concern. And I think that really helps, right? Because I think the friction is created because of what you said, that we think it has to be a certain way, and that we think that the other way is an inferior way.

 

00;18;26;11 – 00;18;46;18

Dr. Mona

And don’t get me wrong, I think when we think about vaccines and other certain things, I do want vaccination, right? We see the measles outbreak right now. I know that the benefit is there, but I think one of the frameworks is also going just back to that sort of bringing yourself down to the level of a parent and looking at that parent as a person and as the decision maker for the family.

 

00;18;46;24 – 00;19;04;03

Dr. Mona

And what does that parent need in that moment, whether it’s support, whether it’s the validation, whether it’s a little tough love, if you have that relationship with them like they’re, you know, one of your routine patients to really help get through because it’s more so rather than a framework, it’s more of a relationship building that’s going to happen.

 

00;19;04;03 – 00;19;23;29

Dr. Mona

Right? It’s not like a checklist or anything like that. It’s really just understanding where they are coming from in that current moment, so that we can better approach that. A mistake that I did a lot when I started online is I started doing a lot of negativity towards the anti-vax people and negativity, like they don’t know what they’re talking about.

 

00;19;23;29 – 00;19;39;11

Dr. Mona

And I did this in the pandemic because that just was the energy and I changed the way I did that online. So now I go forth with a little more like, if you’re watching this and you do not promote vaccines, I just want you to know that if something happens to your kid, we will treat your kid, because that’s what we do.

 

00;19;39;14 – 00;19;58;20

Dr. Mona

Because I want them to know that at the end of the day, we have your back and we all know this in this room. But at the end of the day, the people promoting anti-vax rhetoric, raw milk, don’t do any of this. All the pro-science things. At the end of the day, these people in this room are going to be the ones that are holding their hand, intubating them, supporting them.

 

00;19;58;20 – 00;20;16;01

Dr. Mona

Right. And that is something that I always like to impart on my community that we we want to take care of you, but we do not want to see you think like we love you so much and love your baby so much that we don’t want them to come into our office with measles. We don’t want them in the hospital, and we’re doing this to protect that.

 

00;20;16;01 – 00;20;39;19

Dr. Mona

And so coming from that place of I’m on your side, I want to see what you’re saying. And lack of judgment, I think, is a good framework to kind of approach. But that is really hard to do with time constraints, with the fact that you’re just like being bombarded. And I would like to add that if you’re being threatened, because I’ve had threats from anti-vaxxers in my office, I’ve had people slam down papers and say, you’re a farmer shill.

 

00;20;39;26 – 00;20;55;06

Dr. Mona

You have. You set boundaries. You know, I do this on my on line as well. I will block and delete immediately if people are starting to get nasty. Calling me a shill, calling me all the bad terms. Because at the end of the day, you do have to protect your staff and your piece and say, look, I think we’re disagreeing here.

 

00;20;55;08 – 00;21;11;02

Dr. Mona

If this is not a good fit, I think maybe we should end this conversation. But we do not have to be a customer service. You know, a punching bag. If it doesn’t, if they’re abusing us and our expertise, and you yourself will understand that feeling when it’s starting to become that way.

 

00;21;11;04 – 00;21;32;25

Dr. David Brumbaugh

Mona, you’ve given us a lot of approaches to meeting the families where they’re at. I’m wondering if there are other practical considerations that you’ve used to help steer families to making the right decision, whether it be vaccines or maybe the way they’re parenting their kids. Do you steer them to online resources? You bring them, bring them back for a follow up appointment.

 

00;21;32;25 – 00;21;38;23

Dr. David Brumbaugh

What are the practical considerations in the office when you maybe made a little headway, but you’re not quite there?

 

00;21;38;26 – 00;21;54;14

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I think it depends on the issue. And in the office, going back to the time you have, what’s going on in the schedule, because I always like to bring that up because I know it’s one of the barriers of being a pediatrician and I experienced it. So I like to bring that up. I always like to refer them to resources.

 

00;21;54;16 – 00;22;13;22

Dr. Mona

PS Doc Talk was created to be that extra resource, so I’m grateful that I can say, hey, you know, your baby’s having colic, right? Or fussy baby? We talked about it. I gave you my spiel. Here is now your resources that I would love for you to take a look at. I understand that you’re tired. I understand that you don’t have the time, because I think sometimes we think that.

 

00;22;13;26 – 00;22;28;01

Dr. Mona

Oh, yeah, go, go read it. But I’m a mom. I know that when someone tells you to read something, you’re like, when the heck am I going to read that? When do I have time to listen to a podcast? And so I try to direct them to short form content. I try to ask them like what? What type of content do you like to consume?

 

00;22;28;01 – 00;22;46;24

Dr. Mona

Blogs, as in that? And I send them to resources. And it’s part of the reason why I think pediatricians going online is so useful, especially ones that have this balanced perspective, because we can be that extra layer of like, okay, you need extra TLC right now. Here’s where you can go with a parenting issue. I always love bringing them back.

 

00;22;46;24 – 00;23;04;21

Dr. Mona

I love checking in. I say, hey, look, if this isn’t working, you need to tell me. And that is how I learn as a doctor, right? Because so much has evolved in parenting from when we were back in the day. Like gentle parenting, positive parenting, if you didn’t do residency training in the last five years, you probably didn’t learn any of it.

 

00;23;04;21 – 00;23;21;23

Dr. Mona

And let’s be honest, even residency training doesn’t teach you all about parenting. I self learned so much about parenting in the last six years being online, and so then I’ll bring them back because when I learned that something didn’t work is when I can say I might need to change my strategy, that this isn’t working for a neurodiverse child.

 

00;23;21;26 – 00;23;37;22

Dr. Mona

Like we need to figure out how we can better communicate, because I think as pediatricians, we sometimes get so pigeonholed into it has to be this way, like sleep training. You’re going to do Ferber, you’re going to do this. But then we also understand that a lot of parents don’t like Ferber. A lot of parents don’t like the idea of crying.

 

00;23;37;22 – 00;23;51;20

Dr. Mona

Some of them do. Co-sleep how am I going to meet that parent where the safety isn’t in intact? I can support them, but that I can also give them the evidence, give them the education that supports them, and again meets them where they are.

 

00;23;51;22 – 00;24;06;27

Dr. David Brumbaugh

You use such a prominent online presence and, you know, very impactful. What would your advice be for us? Should we be out there collectively as pediatricians, and what kind of impact can we have?

 

00;24;06;29 – 00;24;24;09

Dr. Mona

As I would, I would love every pediatrician to get online, but I kind of joke that being a pediatrician online is a subspecialty in itself. So you could be gen pedes, but being a gen PD online should be its own training because I’ve had to self learn a lot. And if you’re online, you gotta get ready for a lot of negativity.

 

00;24;24;09 – 00;24;41;27

Dr. Mona

I mean, trolls, threats, all of it. And it took me creating a very strong backbone and thick skin to get through it. And it wasn’t easy. It it took a hit on my mental health. The reason I bring that up is that it’s not easy to be on social media. You have to enjoy it. You have to enjoy thinking on the fly.

 

00;24;41;27 – 00;25;02;16

Dr. Mona

You have to enjoy creating videos. You have to enjoy it. You got to stay consistent. And so if you can’t do that, don’t get on like you got a post to grow, right? And that’s just the reality. But what you can do if you’re not going to go online is understand as a creator, as a pediatrician, and as a as a doctor or a clinician that parents are now using social as part of their parenting.

 

00;25;02;16 – 00;25;22;00

Dr. Mona

Right. You said it already that it’s not just that they’re bringing themselves. They are bringing all the articles, all the videos, everything with them, and know that it’s not just the or abuela helping them. It’s everybody, everything that they’re consuming online is now part of their support system. And so recognize that work with it because you can’t dismiss it.

 

00;25;22;00 – 00;25;42;24

Dr. Mona

You could be someone who’s never been on social media, even as a consumer. But to dismiss social media and say, well, why do you talk about, you know, this before bed, don’t give your kid this, don’t do that. They’re just going to lose that connection with you, and then you’ve just lost an opportunity to connect. So get online if you feel like it, if you don’t direct them to resources that you appreciate.

 

00;25;43;00 – 00;26;07;20

Dr. Mona

And more and more doctors are coming online, I think I’m one of like ten that are really prominent online right now, and we all connect with each other. I know a lot of pediatricians recommend my content, and it makes me feel so good when I meet another pediatrician that’s like, thank you so much because you’ve just made my job easier, because whenever I’m with a patient, I can say, hey, I can trust Doctor Mona even if I don’t watch her video every day, I know that she’s not going to give out horrible information.

 

00;26;07;20 – 00;26;20;06

Dr. Mona

So just go watch this video. And that is how you can help support the online, elevate the information that’s good and the voices that can drown out all of those clickbaity misinformation videos.

 

00;26;20;09 – 00;26;37;01

Dr. Allison Brink

So, Mona, let’s switch gears now. We’re going to look into the future scope. And what do you think pediatric communication looks like in a go forward basis? And most importantly, how can we keep our listeners on the right side of that movement?

 

00;26;37;04 – 00;26;53;18

Dr. Mona

I think it’s important to remember that the loudest voices are often the ones that are giving a lot of misinformation. I think it’s important to call out that misinformation. Like I said, like you can I very blatantly say this is wrong or this is right or it lacks nuance because so much of it is lack of nuance, right?

 

00;26;53;18 – 00;27;14;09

Dr. Mona

These inflammatory claims. I also think from a communication standpoint, we have to understand that we are in a tech world, with the advancements of social media and the fact that people’s attention levels are much lower, right? They are now consuming fast paced content like content at a very high speed. People need this very fast. So know that you’re dealing with that.

 

00;27;14;15 – 00;27;36;17

Dr. Mona

Know that AI is now taking very much of a control. Like you said, parents are now coming in not googling AI, and AI’s pretty impressive like I’ve done AI and I’m like, oh, oh shoot, is this going to take over our jobs? But you got to understand that AI, telehealth tech is the future of medicine. And so rather than saying, well, doesn’t matter, it’s not going to do anything.

 

00;27;36;22 – 00;27;51;17

Dr. Mona

And rather than saying I’m going to just work against it, you got to figure out how you’re going to make it part of your team. How am I going to use this? How am I going to say, hey, you know what, you had this concern and I’ve done this with sleep. My parent was coming in and I didn’t have time in that visit to go through an entire sleep schedule.

 

00;27;51;24 – 00;28;08;23

Dr. Mona

So I told the parent, I want you to go into AI because we’ve talked about it and it’s sleep. Have them create a routine day by day for your child with these parameters, and they put it in their phone right in front of me. It’s spit it out. I looked at it and I was like, okay, that’s pretty good.

 

00;28;09;00 – 00;28;25;03

Dr. Mona

And then it was great. And so you can use those tools in your office like it’s on your computer. Like, has the parent understand that AI, telehealth, social media can be your team in the office as well, I think is how we’re going to better utilize this communication in the future.

 

00;28;25;05 – 00;28;46;15

Dr. David Brumbaugh

Mona, thank you so much for our time together today. This has been incredible information for for us, for all of our listeners. I feel like I’m talking to such a great role model for what modern pediatrics looks like. And thank you also for making content that’s available to families across really the world. So it’s been such a pleasure.

 

00;28;46;22 – 00;29;02;25

Dr. Mona

Thank you. I it’s it’s a job I love. And I say it’s a job because it is a full time job for me now to create content. And every time I get something like that, I had a parent tell me yesterday online that you have made me a better parent. And so just simple content like you just make me feel like a better parent.

 

00;29;02;28 – 00;29;18;24

Dr. Mona

It’s like or like you just made me sleep easier last night and I’m like, wow, like, thank you so much. Like those words mean so much. And I know we feel that in the office, but I know we don’t always get that in the office. You know, the time is so busy. And when I get that online, it’s what fuels that purpose.

 

00;29;18;26 – 00;29;29;06

Dr. Mona

And so thank you. I live a very purposeful life, and it’s just so amazing to to give that information and empower our audience and the listeners on like, how they can just show up better for our families.

 

00;29;29;09 – 00;29;37;16

Dr. David Brumbaugh

Audience. Having a round of applause for doctor, I.

 

00;29;37;19 – 00;29;58;06

Dr. Mona

Before we wrap up, I want to share what really stayed with me from this event. My favorite part was the connection. It’s always about connection for me, the networking, seeing hospital systems build their own media hubs, podcasts, YouTube channel, spaces where they can directly educate families. I have believed for a long time that this matters. Parents are not just looking for information.

 

00;29;58;06 – 00;30;22;19

Dr. Mona

They want connection. They want to trust someone and they want to understand the reasoning behind the advice they are given. One thing I said during the conversation that I always want you to remember is this. My goal is to meet you at your understanding, not your conclusion. When it comes to topics like vaccines, I can be compassionate about fear and questions, and I can also stand firmly in evidence and truth and my clinical expertise.

 

00;30;22;21 – 00;30;44;17

Dr. Mona

Those two things are not opposites for clinicians listening. This balance is so powerful. Compassion does not mean softening science. It means communicating it clearly for families. Listening. Do not be afraid to bring what you see online into the exam room. Ask about it. Talk about it. Your pediatrician should be a safe place for those questions. Technology and social media are not going anywhere.

 

00;30;44;17 – 00;31;01;24

Dr. Mona

So the question is not whether we like it. The question is how we work with it, how we build trust inside of it, and how we use it to educate rather than divide. Thank you so much for being part of this conversation. If you love this episode, please make sure you watch the full video version on our YouTube.

 

00;31;02;00 – 00;31;13;09

Dr. Mona

Make sure you hit that thumbs up sign on YouTube, subscribe and share this on your social media tag. Pedsdoctalk and the pedsdoctalk podcast so we know that you’re listening. Stay well and I’ll catch you all next time.