Colds That Were Colds and Those That Were Not
Mitchell Stevens MD1
1 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northeast, 145 Westchester Ave, White Plains, NY 10601
Gradually, through my interactions with children and their parents, through illness and health, I have acccumulated knowledge and developed skills that enable me to influence the establishment of a therapeutic relationship and thereby improve outcome, diagnosis, compliance, or a family's understanding and acceptance of the child's handicapping condition. For some reason, the plain old common cold, although it has defied a cure, perhaps can be put to some use as a crossroads for all that is important to the pediatrician and, I suppose, to the family. The child with the sneeze or stuffiness, with or without fever, crankiness, sore throat, earache, and/or trouble breathing, presents his or her parents with a possible question: Is this important?
