We’ve all heard the saying: parenting doesn’t come with a handbook. And while most of us have probably wished that it did, luckily there are resources for us to turn to when we need advice––family, friends, pediatricians (and of course, sometimes, the internet).
At Zarminali Pediatrics, we’re all about helping parents build their playbooks; it’s why we create resources like this for parents like you. But we’re at a challenging moment in the future of pediatric health.
The truth is, the health of American children has significantly worsened, a troubling reality highlighted by a recent JAMA study. Over the last decade, we've seen a sharp rise in conditions like obesity, chronic illness, and mental health challenges (including depression, anxiety, and developmental delays). We simply can’t depend on transactional, sick-day care models anymore.
Choosing a pediatrician now goes well beyond someone to trust with a cold or flu; it’s about finding a true partner in care. How do we know? We asked you –– well, maybe not all of you, but more than 400 parents across the country. What you shared helped confirm a counterintuitive truth: the system designed to help you is often your greatest source of stress.
Both Amanda Furr, MD, our chief medical officer, and Danish Qureshi, our founder and chief executive officer, have felt the stress that comes with trying to navigate a pediatric health system. They’ve both worked across healthcare and pediatric health for decades of combined experience. But maybe most importantly, they are also both parents. In this article, Dr. Furr and Danish help you:
Kids don’t get sick on schedule, and bumps or bruises don’t wait for business hours. In fact, illness or injury often seems to strike at the most inconvenient time. It’s a challenge that you and your pediatricians have grappled with for years, with after-hours communication still a priority for 95% of parents.
But the availability issues don’t stop at 5 pm.
Getting in to see your child’s care team during regular business hours remains a hurdle –– one that has caused delayed or skipped visits for 52% of you. The culprit? Clinicians are overbooked, scheduling processes are clunky or tedious, and when you’re finding availability, it just doesn't work with the ups and downs of your busy schedule.
Once you get to the doctor’s office, you’re quickly wearing all the hats: advocate, note-taker, care coordinator, and historian –– as the central source of truth for your child’s medical history.
In today’s disjointed care ecosystem, it’s a burden that 79% of parents feel, and you’re left to repeatedly share your child’s medical history at every appointment.
Dr. Furr wants parents to know that they are not alone in this experience. As someone who’s sat on both sides of the examination table, she knows intimately that it can be a stressful and uncomfortable place to be.
Like her, many of you probably leave with a laundry list of questions you forgot to ask or details you wonder if you should’ve shared. “Parents shouldn’t feel like they have to bear the brunt of responsibility for whether their child gets the care they need, when and how they need it,” says Dr. Furr. “It’s a trend that leaves both parents and their pediatricians at a disadvantage, and in a position where vital information for your child’s health could get missed.”
The responsibility (and lack of connectedness) unfortunately doesn't stop there, with 56% of parents we asked feeling rushed during appointments, and 48% leaving that often difficult-to-schedule doctor’s visit feeling unclear on the next steps for your child and family. Even worse, if you have a larger family (five or more children), you’re 35% more likely to feel this way after every visit.
This feeling of being on your own extends beyond the clinic visit and points to a bigger issue in care: a disconnect that many of you believe technology could help solve.
If you're anything like us, you spend a lot of time thinking about technology. How you use it. How our kids use it. How it makes life easier –– or sometimes, how it can make life more difficult. These questions and more are areas pediatric health has to answer.
Approximately half of the parents we asked believe there is room for improvement in how pediatricians currently use technology — from easy-to-use patient portals to mobile apps for support to other tech-forward resources and communications.
Like many of you, we believe better digital connections could help children get the care they need when they need it and make the whole process more coordinated and less stressful for parents and clinicians. It’s an area where our founder, Danish Qureshi, knows pediatric care can improve.
“In a world where we can manage everything from finances to fitness instantly and wherever we want, how we manage our kids’ care cannot depend on fragmented records and outdated communication,” says Danish. “Technology shouldn’t be a ‘nice-to-have’ upgrade. It’s essential infrastructure required to fully coordinate care.”
Yet, that very infrastructure remains largely inaccessible to parents. Despite 89% of parents surveyed saying a centralized system for your children’s health history would be “very helpful,” only 10% of you currently have access to your child’s Electronic Health Record (EHR).
It’s worth noting that parents polled, even the Millennial and Gen Z parents who are digital natives themselves, do not want tech for tech’s sake. In fact, the majority of you would prefer to wait for in-person availability over today’s telehealth options.
You’re all pretty clear in what you really want from pediatric health: technology that feels personal and connected, but with the human touch needed to care for your child. You believe technology has a vital role to play, but it must be thoughtfully balanced with the flexibility your families need.
We’ve heard you loud and clear: your family is ready for a more accessible, more convenient, and more flexible care experience. We were founded with that same mission in mind.
We’re establishing a new model of care designed from the ground up to meet these pressing needs for families nationwide. Danish likes to put the current problem simply. "Care systems should work, above all else, to reduce stress so families can focus on their child’s healing,” he says. “That idea itself isn’t groundbreaking, but systems just aren’t delivering on the basic promise of truly coordinated care.”
Our goal is to finally deliver that promise to families nationwide. We're progressing the next era of pediatric health by building intentional technology—that supports every family when and where you need it—and by always ensuring our clinicians have what they need to be there for your family day in and day out.
For your family, the Zarminali standard means personalized, seamlessly coordinated care. It’s care that’s bolstered by leading technology and delivered by collaborative teams, all designed to shape a healthier future for our children.
If you're interested in experiencing that new standard, check out our location page to see if we're up and running near you or coming to your state soon.
While Zarminali Pediatrics will remain committed to truly listening to families, now it’s time for us all to act. The challenges may be steep, but the reward—a better future for our kids—will always be worthwhile.