Final Tips from the Healthy Development Collaborative Team

  1. Know the resources. Identify the most common needs of your patient population and the information and community resources that your patients need. Keep the information up to date and easy to find when you and your staff need it.
  2. Agree on the approach. One of the benefits of standardizing care for common issues is that it makes it easier for you to find out if you are serving your patients' needs. Build agreement on the approach you use by systematically testing good ideas.
  3. Engage the whole team. Everyone in the office has important contributions to make in improving developmental care for children.
  4. Measure a few. Improvement depends on deciding whether changes in care are resulting in better patient outcomes. Taking the time to measure a few key aspects of care will accelerate learning about how to make care better.
  5. Keep it simple. Try one small change to get your practice started and the interest will build.
  6. Link with Community. There are many agencies in each community eager and willing to help ensure children develop normally. Identify the ones you need, develop good working relationships with the staff, and refer families to them on a regular basis.
  7. Partner with parents (ask). Parents are eager to share their insights with you about how well your practice is meeting their needs. Look for ways to ask them about their experiences.
  8. Provide patient-centered care.
  9. Use strength-based approaches. This approach helps you identify what you are doing well as a practice. Start there and build on strengths. The same thing applies to families—point out one specific thing they are doing well as parents and go from there.
  10. Be a community pediatrician. Continually deepen your understanding of the community in which your patients live. Actually meeting the professionals who work in community agencies and settings can facilitate the process of referrals and support for families who are struggling.
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