Caregivers' Access to Pediatric Surgery

Access to accurate, understandable, and up-to-date medical information is increasingly recognized as an essential component of family-centered pediatric care. In pediatric surgery, parents, guardians, and other caregivers play a central role in healthcare decision-making and long-term patient support. Ensuring that families can understand the evidence underpinning clinical recommendations is therefore critical to improving communication, promoting shared decision-making, and enhancing patient outcomes.Plain language summaries represent an important tool for bridging the gap between scientific research and the individuals most directly affected by it. By translating complex medical findings into clear, accessible language, these summaries allow caregivers to better understand the rationale, methodology, results, and implications of research relevant to the surgical care of children. At the same time, healthcare professionals and researchers benefit from a deeper understanding of the experiences, priorities, and perspectives of patients and their families.This Research Topic aims to promote meaningful dialogue between clinicians, researchers, patients, and caregivers by bringing together high-quality contributions in pediatric surgery that are accompanied by a plain language summary of approximately 200–500 words. These summaries should communicate the motivation for the study, the methods employed, the key findings, and the clinical relevance of the work in language that is accessible to a non-specialist audience.Beyond supporting accessible scientific communication, this collection seeks to provide a platform for patient and family perspectives, encouraging greater engagement between caregivers and the pediatric surgical community. By fostering collaboration, transparency, and mutual understanding, the collection aims to strengthen the partnership between families and healthcare professionals while advancing excellence in pediatric surgical care.We welcome submissions addressing all areas of pediatric surgery and encourage contributions across a broad range of article types, including original research, reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, perspectives, clinical studies, and other relevant formats.Through this initiative, we aim to enhance the accessibility of pediatric surgical research, empower caregivers with evidence-based knowledge, and support more informed participation in healthcare decisions affecting children and adolescents. Topic editors: Francesco Morini, Rene Wijnen Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/87137/caregivers-access-to-pediatric-surgery