During the first home visit, an assessment/screening of the health and well-being of the prenatal or postpartum woman should be completed. The need for a return visit and the frequency of future visits (as needed) should be based on the assessment/risk and local procedure.
Selecting Screening Options
There are a number of maternal health/risk screening forms in use by local, state, and national home visiting programs. It is important to determine what tool(s) will be most appropriate for use by your program depending on the scope of visits, credentials of home visitors, and data that needs to be collected and tracked.
Screening tools are available for both women and infants. Some are based on timing or situation of the mother (e.g., preconception, prenatal, parenting, interconception). No matter what screening tools are used to assess for risk and next steps, a decision tree or service algorithm should guide the frequency of administration.