Maximizing the use of the intraprofessional team to develop interprofessional pediatric primary care teams.

Pediatric well-child care focuses on growth, development, physical examination, and caregiver education for health prevention and promotion. There is limited time for providing all of these services within typical well-child visits. A series of research activities explored opportunities for interprofessional collaboration within pediatric primary care teams during well-child care. The four research activities included a focus group with occupational therapy practitioners, observations of well-child visits, and two caregiver surveys; two faculties and two students were involved as part of the intraprofessional research team. Results of the research activities identified opportunities for allied health professionals as part of the pediatric primary care team to support incongruence between current care delivery and caregiver preferences for care. While activity participation was found to be well addressed in primary care, an increased focus on understanding the impact of child and family habits, routines, and contexts on activity participation is an opportunity for interprofessional primary care teams to promote health outcomes for children.