Open AccessImproving Quality of Preventive Care at a Student-Run Free Clinic
Author(s) -
Neel M. Butala,
Harry Chang,
Leora I. Horwitz,
Mary Bartlett,
Peter Ellis
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0081441
Subject(s) - medicine , free clinic , intervention (counseling) , dyslipidemia , family medicine , receipt , socioeconomic status , primary care , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , quality management , diabetes mellitus , nursing , health care , population , environmental health , management system , management , world wide web , computer science , economics , economic growth , endocrinology
Student-run clinics increasingly serve as primary care providers for patients of lower socioeconomic status, but studies show that quality of care at student-run clinics has room for improvement. Purpose To examine change in provision of preventive services in a student-run free clinic after implementation of a student-led QI intervention involving prompting. Method Review of patient charts pre- and post-intervention, examining adherence to screening guidelines for diabetes, dyslipidemia, HIV, and cervical cancer. Results Adherence to guidelines among eligible patients increased after intervention in 3 of 4 services examined. Receipt of HIV testing increased from 33% (80/240) to 48% (74/154; p = 0.004), fasting lipid panel increased from 53% (46/86) to 72% (38/53; p = 0.033), and fasting blood glucose increased from 59% (27/46) to 82% (18/22; p = 0.059). Conclusions This student-run free clinic implemented a student-led QI intervention that increased provision of prevention. Such a model for QI could extend to other student-run clinics nationally.