Date of Paper/Work

5-2022

Type of Paper/Work

Doctor of Nursing Practice Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Katrice Ziefle

Department/School

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Abstract

Pediatric well-child care is the foundation of pediatric care for children in the United States. There are 15 well-child visits recommended in the first three years of life and well-child care occupies 50% of all ambulatory care visits. These visits are critical to enhancing health outcomes in children. The current state of well-child care is not meeting the needs of children and their families. Standardized guidelines developed by the American Academy Pediatrics, Bright Futures, guide well-child care and are not being adequately followed in the current state of well-child care. Furthermore, parents are not following the expected well-child care visit schedules; this may be because they are not getting what they need from well-child care. A quality improvement project to reimagine a new model of well-child care was implemented in this urban practice. Eight 6-month-old infants and their parents attended a group wellchild visit instead of their individual well-child visit. The visit lasted 90 minutes with the first 60 minutes centered around a group discussion focused on Bright Futures guidelines which included sleep, nutrition, immunizations, development, and age-appropriate play activities. Parents were surveyed after the visit. Survey results revealed that parents were well educated in the group visit about the Bright Futures guidelines. Qualitative results indicated that parents learned from each other, enjoyed the social support, did not feel as rushed as an individual well-child visit, and were interested in more group wellchild visits. Recommendations for future group well-child care are to offer the group well-child visit to other age groups, consider a cohort visit with the original group of parents and their infants, adding another pediatric provider, and offering more individual time with each parent by being more aware of time spent during the group portion.

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