Quality of care in public health well child clinics: a neglected issue.

The process of well child care in public health clinics was evaluated using a peer review approach based on explicit criteria formulated by the peers themselves. The criteria defined what should be done in order to ensure good preventive care during a client-provider encounter. The data from this study suggest that the traditional goals of public health are being pursued, but that a broader spectrum of preventive care, including attention to the child's psychosocial development, is still lacking.