Rourke Baby Record
Rourke Baby Record
Updated for 2020
The Rourke Baby Record (RBR) is an evidence-based guide for physicians and other health care professionals to use when providing care to children in the first five years of life. The RBR includes information on growth and nutrition monitoring; developmental surveillance; physical examination parameters; immunizations; and anticipatory guidance on safety, family, behavioural, and health promotion issues.
Drs. Leslie and James Rourke (professors emeriti in the Discipline of Family Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland) began developing the RBR in 1979. They published it in 1985 and have revised it regularly to keep it current. Available in English and French, the national version has also been adapted to various regions, including the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Ontario, and for specific populations, such as First Nations communities in Alberta. The RBR is freely available to pediatric primary care providers in hard-copy and electronic medical record formats.
The RBR website includes:
- The Rourke Baby Record: Evidence-based infant/child health maintenance Guides I to IV (birth to five years), an immunization record (Guide V), and Resources 1 to 4; available in English or French and as national or Ontario-specific versions
- Highlights of revisions in the 2020 version
- The Interactive RBR, which provides a summary of current evidence, guidelines, and parent resources for most items
- Resources for parents such as brochures for specific well-baby visits and links to reliable information about common health issues
- WHO Growth Charts adapted to the primary care setting in Canada
