You don’t want to get this phone call at 9:15 a.m. on the first day of second grade:
“I’m sorry, but you need to come and get your daughter. Her EpiPen and paperwork aren’t updated for this year, and she cannot legally be here until they are.”
We won’t identify the chagrined parent this happened to, but we’ll give you this tip: Avoid the sad (and/or mad) child and the frantic trip to the clinic by taking some time this summer to tackle your back-to-school health checklist — including:
- An annual well-child visit
- Any necessary vaccines or boosters
- Medication and a school action plan for conditions such as allergies, asthma and diabetes. (These generally have to be updated every year.)
- A sports physical, if needed
“We tend to get inundated with paperwork as the first day of school gets closer,” said Dr. Andrea Donalty, a pediatrician and the primary care medical director for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network.
Well child visits and annual exams
She’s a big proponent of the annual well-child visit, which some families will schedule in the child’s birth month for ease of remembering, or maybe in the summer or at back-to-school time for easier scheduling. Any time of the year is fine.
At Mary Bridge Children’s, 20 or 30 minutes is set aside for a comprehensive well-child visit with a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. It includes:
- Vaccines as necessary
- Evaluation of the child’s growth
- Assessment of their social and emotional development
- Screening for anxiety and depression
- Beginning in the adolescent years, a (legally protected) private conversation between patient and provider, covering topics such as drugs, alcohol and sexual activity.
This visit is also the time to get paperwork completed for sports participation or an “action plan” for a chronic condition. Basically, “You get a sports physical — and then some,” Dr. Donalty said.
What’s included in a sports physical?
A sports physical alone is much less involved. It involves filling out a document required by schools every year (or two years). It clears a student for sports participation by essentially ruling out any risk factors that could make athletic activity risky.
Knowing how much, and how quickly, kids and their interests can change, “If there’s even a whiff of the possibility of wanting to play sports … bring the paperwork to a regular exam,” Dr. Donalty advises. That way, it will be on file when your kid’s bestie drags them along to basketball tryouts.
In the Mary Bridge Children’s system, a sports physical can be done at an urgent care clinic in a pinch. Also, if the child has been seen by their provider within the previous year, and nothing has changed with their health, Mary Bridge Children’s providers will sign off on a sports physical without an additional exam.
What a sports physical doesn’t do: Take the place of a yearly check-in with a provider who knows the child, their family and their history.
Choosing a pediatric health care provider
“We encourage patients to develop a relationship with their primary care provider or the provider’s team,” Dr. Donalty said, explaining that it leads to what she called “longitudinal knowledge” and a level of comfort and familiarity between doctor and patient.
That kind of relationship is especially valuable when it’s time to check off items on your back-to-school health checklist — from annual physicals to chronic condition management.oblem.
Mary Bridge Children’s providers pride themselves on knowing their patients and families well and acting as their “medical home” — a place to come with an acute condition, to coordinate specialty care when needed and a source of expertise in a sea of health information available online (not all of it accurate).”
l in pediatrics is to have your child be as healthy as they possibly can be,” said Dr. Donalty.
