Public Health Nurses in the Well Child Clinic (WCC) setting are in a unique position to impact early childhood growth and development, health and safety, and family adjustment.
In collaboration with stakeholders across the province, including public health representation from all five zones, recommendations for non-immunization activities (which includes Postpartum Depression Screening) were developed. Standardization of the non-immunization activities in the WCC is responsive to factors such as the growing birth cohort, expanded immunization schedule, and the reality of shifting and complex demographics that contribute to time pressures in the clinic.
Standardization not only promotes consistent public health nursing practices across Alberta but ensures that families are provided with consistent information and guidance on health and parenting issues. Grounded in the principles of patient and family centred care, standardization supports the Public Health Nurse in making the best use of their time while letting parent questions and concerns drive the focus of the visit.
The WCC Standardization was informed by the best available evidence that included the following deliverables:
For more information on the process, recommendations and implementation, contact eyhp@ahs.ca.
The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools’ publication, Evidence-Informed Decision Making Casebook 2, Sharing Success Stories for Public Health in Canada features the WCC Standardization project, Making Evidence Informed Decisions about the Alberta Public Health Well-Child Visit: The Art and the Science.
