Rourke Baby Record

Rourke Baby Record: 2024 Edition

The Rourke Baby Record (RBR) is a freely available knowledge translation/mobilization tool to enable efficient, current, comprehensive, and preventive health care by clinicians to children in the first five years of life.

Well-baby/well-child visits using the RBR include growth and nutrition monitoring; developmental surveillance; physical examination parameters; immunizations; and anticipatory guidance on safety, family, relationships, and health promotion issues. The RBR incorporates parent/caregiver resources such as age-specific information handouts and links to reliable parent resources on common topics.

First published in 1985 by family physicians Leslie and James Rourke, the RBR is updated regularly. The core team for the 2024 RBR also includes 25-year co-author pediatrician Denis Leduc, clinician/researchers Imaan Bayoumi (family medicine) and Patricia Li (pediatrics), pediatrician Anne Rowan-Legg, and family physician Bruce Kwok.

The RBR is affiliated with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) and is endorsed by the CFPC, CPS, and Dietitians of Canada. Financial support from the Government of Ontario has facilitated an Ontario RBR in addition to the National version.

The RBR website has been totally redesigned with a user-friendly graphic interface for both web and mobile devices and enhanced accessibility features.

The RBR website features include:

Rourke Baby Record forms: Evidence-based infant/child health maintenance GUIDES I to IV (for visits from within one week to five years of age) and associated NOTES 1 to 4 (formerly named Resources 1 to 4), available in English and French and as a National- or an Ontario-specific version
Highlights of revisions in the 2024 edition: Information on anti-racist, inclusive, and culturally safe care, and early relational health; improved clarity of the development surveillance section; and new and evolving evidence on many items related to nutrition, injury prevention, healthy routines, and more
Interactive RBR: GUIDES I – IV with direct links to the notes/evidence summary and to corresponding parent resources for each item
NOTES/Evidence Summary: Supporting information organized by topic/domain
Resources for parents/caregivers: Age-specific information handouts as well as links to reliable parent resources on common health issues
RBR Adaptations: Well-child forms adapted from the RBR for unique populations
WHO Canadian Growth Charts: Links to WHO Growth Charts for kids up to 19
RBR Literature Review: Literature reviewed and critically appraised for level of evidence to support RBR recommendations

The McMaster Evidence Review and Synthesis Team (MERST) was engaged in this update.