The Well-Visit Planner was developed to improve well-child care for children under 4 years old. The information in this tool is based on recommendations established by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 3rd Edition. The tool helps parents to customize the well-child visit to their family’s needs by helping them identify and prioritize their health risks and concerns before their well-child appointment. This means that parents and providers are better able to communicate and address the family’s needs during the well-child visit.

The tool was developed and is maintained by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) at Oregon Health and Science University, in the Department of Pediatrics. The CAHMI developed the tool to engage parents as partners to improve well-child care services as a part of a project supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Research Program (R40 MC08959). The WVP’s continued development and implementation is supported by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, volunteer advisors and through support from HRSA/MCHB through Cooperative Agreement U59-MC06890. The project also benefited from the advice and support of numerous advisors: Betsy Anderson, David Bergman, Emily Brophy , Dimitri Christakis, Kellena Collier, Paula Duncan, John Kilty, Amy Kurian, Cynthia Minkovitz, Tami Olson, Amy Perritti, Ed Schor, Judy Shaw, Sara Slovin. The CAHMI would like to thank each and every one of them.

Why should you complete the tool?

Completing the tool will help you to identify your priorities for your upcoming well-child visit; it will also help you to understand what you can expect at that visit. The content of the tool is different based on the age of your child, so you can complete the tool before each of your child’s visits. The tool also includes educational materials about topics such as your child’s growth and development, language development, and safety. The educational materials address the topics of most importance for your child’s age.

After you complete the tool you can save or print a Visit Guide that summarizes your needs and priorities for the visit. You will also take this Visit Guide with you to the visit to help prioritize your time with your child’s pediatric provider. You can also print a copy of the Visit Guide to leave with your provider. This will help you and your provider maximize the time at the visit based on your priorities and your child’s health needs. If your provider has given you a secure email address, then you can save the Visit Guide and mail it to her/him prior to the visit.

What will you be asked to do in the Well-Visit Planner online tool?

It should take you between 15-20 minutes to complete the Well-Visit Planner online tool. You will be asked to do the following:

Provide basic information about the child who is having the well-visit for whom you are completing the tool for.

Answer a series of questions about your child and family that will help your child’s health care provider know what they may need to focus on in the visit.

Pick the topics that you want your child’s doctor to talk with you and give you information about.

Receive a “Visit Guide” that you can use at your child’s well-visit. This guide highlights the topics you wanted to discuss and should be brought to the visit.

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics and the Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative

Available at: https://www.wellvisitplanner.org/about.aspx