A quality improvement collaborative increased preventive education and screening rates for women at high-risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary care settings

Abstract

Aims: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rates continue to increase across women of reproductive age in the United States. The Ohio Type 2 Diabetes Learning Collaborative aimed to improve education and screening for T2DM among women aged 18-44years at high risk for developing T2DM.

Methods: Fifteen primary care practices across Ohio participated in a 12-month quality improvement (QI) collaborative, which included monthly calls to share best practices, one-on-one QI coaching, and Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Monthly, practices submitted data on three outcome measures on preventive education and three measures on clinical screening for T2DM.

Results: Increases across each of the three preventive education rates (range of percent increase: 53.6% - 60.0%) and each of the three screening rates for T2DM (15.0% - 19.4%) were observed. Specifically, screening rates for high-risk women with two or more risk factors for T2DM (excluding gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)) increased by 16.8% (60.5%-77.3%) while rates for T2DM among women with a history of GDM increased by 15.0% (75.0 - 90.0).

Conclusions: A quality improvement collaborative increased preventive education and screening rates for women at high-risk for T2DM in primary care settings.

Keywords: Gestational diabetes; Primary care; Quality improvement; Type 2 diabetes.