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

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