An Inside Look at Well-Child Care

Well-child visits are a large part of what general pediatricians do, and providing anticipatory guidance while addressing other concerns during clinic appointments is a common juggling act. Several studies have surveyed pediatricians and parents about the content of well-child visits and their impressions of these visits (JW Pediatr Adolesc Med Feb 13 2008). Now, researchers directly observed and recorded the content of well-child visits for 483 children (age, newborn to 19 years) primarily at urban and suburban practices (43 pediatricians and 9 midlevel clinicians) in Utah. Most children had commercial insurance.

Visits averaged 20 minutes, with 9 minutes spent discussing health supervision and anticipatory guidance topics (22 and 9 minutes…