The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has created the program Bright Futures to “promote and improve the health, education, and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, families, and communities.” Well child care is a critical opportunity for the pediatrician and the family to assess the child’s growth and development.
Please note that Children’s Medical Center has a designated well child waiting area. Patients are expected to arrive 10 minutes prior to their scheduled appointment time to ensure timely check in.
Focus groups conducted by the AAP Department of Research has yielded four overarching themes of the mission of well child care:
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Pediatricians and parents share the goal of healthy children.
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Pediatricians want the well-child visit to best serve the needs of children and their families.
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Pediatricians are experts in child health, but parents are experts on their child.
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A team approach can best develop optimum physical, emotional, and developmental health for the child.
Source Healthy Children Magazine, Summer/Back to School 2009
Schedule of Well-Child Care Visits
The American Academy of Pediatrics and Bright Futures recommend the following interval of well child visits. Each visit may include growth measurements, behavioral assessments, developmental screenings, lab evaluations, and immunizations.
Transition to Adult Care
Children’s Medical Center helps our patients aged 18-21 manage their medical care themselves. We love watching our patients grow and develop from a tiny infants into a wonderful, independent, healthy young adults. However, at some point, a patient’s medical needs will outgrow our expertise. And while we value our relationship with each patient, the national consensus is that most people need an adult doctor by the age of 22.
To ease this transition, we have developed a Transition to Adult Medical Care packet. Please review the version most appropriate for your age: