Community-wide intervention to improve the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder assessment and treatment practices of community physicians.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
The goals were to implement and to test a quality-improvement intervention aimed at improving community-based primary care providers' adherence to the American Academy of Pediatrics, evidence-based diagnostic and treatment guidelines for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

METHODS:
Nineteen practices (with 84 primary care providers) from a large urban community were trained by using quality-improvement methods with some academic detailing. Pretraining and posttraining adherence to evidence-based practices was assessed through review of patient charts.

RESULTS:
Preintervention rates of guideline usage were uniformly low. After the intervention, primary care providers showed substantial improvement in their use of the guidelines for the assessment and treatment of elementary school-aged patients with newly diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Use of parent and teacher assessment rating scales increased from levels of 52% to 55% to levels of nearly 100%. Systematic monitoring of responses to medication improved from a baseline level of 9% to 40%.

CONCLUSIONS:
Quality-improvement interventions such as the one used in this study seem quite effective in improving primary care providers' practices at offices that express interest in improving the quality of care for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The design of the intervention, problems associated with improving and sustaining treatment monitoring, and issues related to generalizability of the intervention model are discussed.

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Author information

Author/s: Epstein, Jeffery N (JN); Langberg, Joshua M (JM); Lichtenstein, Philip K (PK); Mainwaring, Beth A (BA); Luzader, Carolyn P (CP); Stark, Lori J (LJ);

Affiliation: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. jeff.epstein@cchmc.org

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article; Multicenter Study; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Pediatrics (Pediatrics), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 122 (issue 1) : pp 19-27

Dates: Created 2008/07/03; Completed 2008/07/31;

PMID: 18595982, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis; therapy
Child
Female
Guideline Adherence
Humans

Humans
Intervention Studies
Male
Physician's Practice Patterns - standards
Quality of Health Care
Urban Health Services - standards

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