UK HealthCast: Dr. Donna Grigsby on the importance of well-child visits

UK HealthCast is a podcast series featuring interviews with UK HealthCare experts on a variety of health-related topics.

This edition features Dr. Donna Grigsby, Chief of the Division of Academic General Pediatrics at Kentucky Children's Hospital. We spoke to Dr. Grigsby about the importance of well-child checks and how they help parents keep their kids healthy.

What is a well-child check?

A well-child check is an opportunity at different intervals in a child's life to bring them in and speak with a pediatrician about their nutrition, about their growth, get immunizations, etc. A lot of different things happen at a well-child check, but they're designed to help identify problems early or to assist parents who have concerns about how their child is progressing.

Why are these visits so important for kids?

They allow us to identify issues that may be occurring that the patient or parent may not have even recognized. A lot of our visits occur in the first two years of life when children are changing so dramatically in every way, they're going through a period of rapid growth. It's a time during which we can identify issues in the way a child is growing or the way a child is developing so that we can, if necessary, find interventions to help those children.

If I'm concerned about my child’s mental health how can this visit help?

We are seeing an increase in mental health concerns among children and adolescents, ever since the pandemic started. A parent can sit down and explain concerning behaviors. We may see children who aren't sleeping well or who are becoming hostile or aggressive, or who are becoming withdrawn, and those all may be signs that your child is struggling with anxiety or depression. We want you to reach out to us because we can refer your child for further evaluation and services.

How should you prepare your child for a well check visit?

Explain to them that the doctor's going to ask a lot of questions and that they're very interested to know that you're growing and you're developing and you're happy. We're going to ask a lot of questions and we're going to examine you from head to toe to make sure that everything looks good.

Listen to our entire UK HealthCast podcast with Dr. Grigsby below: