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Are child health surveillance reviews just routine examinations of normal children?

A J Hampshire1, M E Blair, N S Crown

  • 1Division of General Practice, School of Community Health Sciences, Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham. mandy.hampshire@nottingham.ac.uk

The British Journal of General Practice : the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
|May 29, 2000
PubMed

Insights

Child health surveillance (CHS) identifies physical problems in infants, with many requiring follow-up. The personal child health record (PCHR) aids data collection, but its design needs updates for health promotion.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Public Health
  • Health Informatics

Background:

  • Child health surveillance (CHS) has evolved significantly since 1990.
  • The value of CHS has been debated, prompting new data collection methods.
  • The personal child health record (PCHR) emerged as a tool for CHS data management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze problems documented during infant CHS reviews within the PCHR.
  • To determine the follow-up actions and referrals resulting from these CHS reviews.

Main Methods:

  • 28 general practices participated in the study.
  • Infants born to mothers registered with these practices were monitored for one year.
  • Health visitor records from PCHRs were collected and analyzed.

Main Results:

  • 87% of 2308 infants were followed up for one year, with 78% of CHS reviews returned.
  • Physical problems were noted in 58% (10-14 days), 35% (6-8 weeks), and 39% (6-9 months) of infants.
  • 30% of recorded physical issues needed primary care follow-up, and 7% required hospital referral.

Conclusions:

  • CHS offers crucial opportunities for addressing parental concerns and identifying children needing intervention.
  • The PCHR's current design requires modification to better support health promotion initiatives.
  • Enhancing the PCHR could improve its utility in modern child health surveillance.
Abstract

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