Implementing a Diabetes Screening Protocol

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes is one of the greatest health concerns today. While one in ten Americans suffer from diabetes, 25% of them are unaware they have the disease. One third of the population has prediabetes, yet less than 12% have been told by a healthcare provider they have the condition. Clinicians are not adequately screening and educating their patients regarding their risk for this progressive and potentially debilitating disease.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement a protocol encouraging providers to appropriately screen their patients for their type 2 diabetes risk.

Methods: Participating healthcare providers were instructed to use the American Diabetes Association’s screening tool during each new patient encounter in a twelve-week period. The intervention asked three clinicians in a private practice to assess patients’ risk of developing diabetes according to the evidence-based tool. They then offered education on prediabetes, diabetes, and further testing. Completed screening tools were collected at the end of the intervention period and assessed for provider compliance.

Outcome: Clinicians saw 151 new patients during the data collection period and screened 150 of them using the diabetes risk assessment tool. Sixty-nine patients were found to have a high risk for developing diabetes and 81 patients had low-risk scores. Educational material was provided to all new patients. The participating providers in the practice were able to implement the new screening protocol with a 99.34% success rate and did not require formal reminders or further education to maintain compliance.