Abstract
Objective
To measure duration of well-child care (WCC) visits at 2 federally qualified health
centers (FQHCs), across 10 clinic sites, and determine if differences exist in visit
duration for English- and Spanish-speaking parents.
Methods
Upon arrival to their child's 2- to 24-month well visit, a research team member followed
families throughout their visit noting start and end times for a series of 5 WCC visit
tasks. The average time to complete each visit task for the entire sample was then
calculated. Mann-Whitney U tests were run to determine if task completion time differed significantly between
English- and Spanish-speaking parents.
Results
The total sample included 199 parents of infants and children between 2 and 24 months
old. Over one third of the sample spoke Spanish as their primary language (37%). The
average visit time was 77 minutes (standard deviation [SD] = 48). Median time spent
with the clinician was 14 minutes (SD = 5). Clinician visit time was significantly
different U = 2608, P < .001, r = 0.38 between English- (median = 15 minutes) and Spanish (median = 11
minutes)-speaking parents. No other significant differences were identified.
Discussion
Our findings align with previous studies showing the average time spent with a clinician
during a WCC visit was 15 minutes. Further, the average time with a clinician was
less for Spanish-speaking parents. With limited visit length to address child and
family concerns, re-designing the structure and duration of WCC visits is critical
to best meet the needs of families living in poverty, and may ensure that Spanish-speaking
parents receive appropriate guidance and support without time limitations.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 25, 2022
Accepted:
June 19,
2022
Received:
January 3,
2022
Footnotes
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 by Academic Pediatric Association
