The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recognizes that children's unique and ever-changing needs depend on a variety of support systems. Key components of effective support systems address the needs of the child and family in the context of their home and community and are dynamic so that they reflect, monitor, and respond to changes as the needs of the child and family change. The AAP believes that team-based care involving medical providers and community partners (eg, teachers and state agencies) is a crucial and necessary component of providing high-quality care to children and their families. Team-based care builds on the foundation of the medical home by reaching out to a potentially broad array of participants in the life of a child and incorporating them into the care provided. Importantly, the AAP believes that a high-functioning team includes children and their families as essential partners. The overall goal of team-based care is to enhance communication and cooperation among the varied medical, social, and educational partners in a child's life to better meet the global needs of children and their families, helping them to achieve their best potential. In support of the team-based approach, the AAP urges stakeholders to invest in infrastructure, education, and privacy-secured technology to meet the needs of children. This statement includes limited specific examples of potential team members, including health care providers and community partners, that are meant to be illustrative and in no way represent a complete or comprehensive listing of all team members who may be of importance for a specific child and family.

Purpose Many parents of young, febrile children lack evidence‐based tools to manage fever (knowledge, skills, confidence, support), fear negative outcomes, and prioritize the reduction of fever over management of its source. This review examines the literature for evidence of factors that must be considered when designing effective fever management educational interventions for parents, especially those whose health literacy is low. Data sources A systematic search identified studies from 1980 to 2011 using the databases PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Review, Web of Science, PsychInfo, Medline Plus, Joanna Briggs Institute, and Google Scholar. Conclusions The most effective educational interventions are 1:1, multidimensional, structured, relevant, and reinforced over time. Parental culture, health literacy, knowledge deficits, and beliefs must be addressed by nurse practitioners (NPs) to maximize evidence‐based behaviors. Implications for practice Parents often strive to do what is best for their child but may become overly protective and anxious when managing their child's fever. NPs have a prime opportunity to improve parents’ fever management practices. An evidence‐based toolkit, created with respect for those who may have low health literacy, will give parents tangible tools to help them provide safer and less costly care for their febrile child.

Quality measures are used for a variety of purposes in health care, including clinical care improvement, regulation, accreditation, public reporting, surveillance, and maintenance of certifi cation. Most quality measures are 1 of 3 types: structure, process, or outcome. Health care quality measures should address the domains of quality across the continuum of care and refl ect patient and family experience. Measure development for pediatric health care has a number of important challenges, including gaps in the evidence base; the fact that measures for most conditions must be agespecifi c; the long, resource-intensive development process; and the national focus on measure development for adult conditions. Numerous national organizations focus on the development and application of quality measures, including the Pediatric Quality Measures Program, which is focused solely on the development and implementation of pediatric-specifi c measures. Once a quality measure is developed for use in national measurement programs, the organization that develops and/or "stewards" the measure may submit the measure or set of measures for endorsement, which is recognition of the scientifi c soundness, usability, and relevance of the measure. Quality measures must then be disseminated and applied to improve care. Although pediatric health care providers and child health care institutions alike must continually balance time and resources needed to address multiple reporting requirements, quality measurement is an important tool for advancing high-quality and safe health care for children. This policy statement provides an overview of quality measurement and describes the opportunities for pediatric health care providers to apply quality measures to improve clinical quality and performance in the delivery of pediatric health care services.

Appropriate visual assessments help identify children who may benefit from early interventions to correct or improve vision. Examination of the eyes and visual system should begin in the nursery and continue throughout both childhood and adolescence during routine well-child visits in the medical home. Newborn infants should be examined using inspection and red reflex testing to detect structural ocular abnormalities, such as cataract, corneal opacity, and ptosis. Instrument-based screening, if available, should be first attempted between 12 months and 3 years of age and at annual well-child visits until acuity can be tested directly. Direct testing of visual acuity can often begin by 4 years of age, using age-appropriate symbols (optotypes). Children found to have an ocular abnormality or who fail a vision assessment should be referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist or an eye care specialist appropriately trained to treat pediatric patients.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth anomaly. With advances in repair and palliation of these complex lesions, more and more patients are surviving and are discharged from the hospital to return to their families. Patients with CHD have complex health care needs that often must be provided for or coordinated for by the primary care provider (PCP) and medical home. This policy statement aims to provide the PCP with general guidelines for the care of the child with congenital heart defects and outlines anticipated problems, serving as a repository of current knowledge in a practical, readily accessible format. A timeline approach is used, emphasizing the role of the PCP and medical home in the management of patients with CHD in their various life stages.