Past Programs

Bright Futures Training Intervention

The Bright Futures Training Intervention Project aims to serve as a national model for how to support clinicians in improving the delivery of preventive and developmental services in practice. It is a partnership between the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Health Care Quality at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. It is supported through The Commonwealth Fund.

The project is also working in partnership with many other health care organizations whose members care for children, including the American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Part of the larger Academy initiative of Bright Futures, this project is dedicated to the principle that every child deserves to be healthy and that optimal health involves a trusting relationship between the health professional, the child, the family and the community.

Pilot Practice Teams

The project involves fifteen pilot practice teams from nine states who are assisting the Academy in refining a Bright Futures toolkit and curriculum for the Bright Futures Framework that will be used as the national template to support practice change and improvement in the delivery of preventive and developmental services. Practice teams are currently testing a systematic approach to improve the preventive care and the developmental assessment to children through the use of the Bright Futures Framework.

Bright Futures Framework

The Bright Futures Framework includes:

Use of a preventive services summary sheet that can be used by anyone in the practice at each visit
Use of structured tools to assess the child and family's developmental and behavioral needs
Evaluation of parents' needs and involvement including assessment of protective factors
Use of recall and reminder systems
Linkage of the child and family to appropriate community resources and responding to population-based concerns
Use of assessment strategies at well-child visits to identify children with special health care needs and determine appropriate follow-up

In November 2004, the 15 pilot teams attended a one-day workshop. The teams are currently participating in monthly conference calls to learn more about implementing the framework in their office setting and to provide ongoing feedback about the toolkit and curriculum.

The second and final workshop was held September 9-10, 2005. Lessons learned from this pilot project will shape the Bright Futures toolkit and curriculum for improving preventive and developmental services used nationally for child and adolescent health professional organizations.

The teams have brought tremendous energy and excitement to their improvement efforts. Already practices teams have shown improved care in the delivery of preventive services, the use of a structured developmental assessment, and the identification of children with special health care needs.