Features of follow-up of young children in a children's outpatient department: A review

Children's outpatient departments provide children with preventive, consultative, diagnostic, and therapeutic care. Newborn care is a special program created by the state to monitor the condition of a newborn child and a new mother and assess the socio-economic conditions of the family as a whole. Screening shortly after a child's birth plays an important role and is aimed at the timely detection of congenital and hereditary diseases. Neonatal, audiological, and cardiac screening is put into practice. Since December 31, 2022, neonatal screening throughout the Russian Federation has been carried out for 36 groups of medical conditions. Since 2019, cardiac screening has been carried out in our country for all children after 24 hours of life in maternity hospitals to detect congenital heart defects. Audiological screening is performed at the age of 3–4 days or before discharge from the maternity hospital. One of the most important tasks of the district service in the observation of young children is the promotion of breastfeeding. It is necessary to inform mothers and their families about the benefits of breastfeeding and to teach pregnant women and nursing mothers the practical aspects of breastfeeding. The Office of a Healthy Child, a structural unit of the outpatient department, has a crucial role in working with young children. It is engaged in preventive work aimed at preserving the child's health, as well as its optimal development and effective upbringing.