![\"Head](\"\/camed\/files\/2024\/04\/Mona-Doss-Roberts-150x150.jpg\")
Researchers at BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine describe a quality improvement initiative<\/a> to improve screening for ADHD in the primary care pediatric clinic at Boston Medical Center, the largest safety net hospital in New England. \u201cIn our clinic, we found that many children who screened positive for attention problems were not receiving a diagnostic evaluation for ADHD,\u201d explained first author Mona S. Doss Roberts<\/a>, DO, assistant professor of pediatrics at the school. \u201cDespite the fact that delayed and underdiagnosis of ADHD is common, particularly among lower income and racial and ethnic minority youth, to our knowledge this is the first published report of a quality improvement effort specifically to improve screening for ADHD in pediatric primary care,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nThe ADHD Detection Quality Improvement (ADQI) initiative was a multicomponent program including 1) developing and teaching a provider decision-making algorithm; 2) adjusting clinic operational\/workflow; and 3) optimizing features in our electronic medical record to flag positive screens and facilitate next steps for evaluation.\u00a0With their initiative, the researchers showed improvement in recognition of positive Attention Subscale scores on the PSC-17 and evaluation for ADHD with a follow up diagnostic evaluation tool.<\/p>\n
According to the researchers, their initiative led to improved clinician recognition of positive screens for attention problems and follow up evaluation for ADHD by distributing diagnostic rating scales to these families. Thus, even in a clinic that had excellent rates of universal behavioral health screening in primary care, were able to optimize use of the tool as a screener for ADHD, improving the likelihood that providers would recognize and document the positive attention problems score as an indication of possible ADHD.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite our initial success, additional interventions are needed to improve the completion of ADHD evaluations in primary care to ensure that children are appropriately identified and offered evidence-based care,\u201d added Roberts, who also is a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center.<\/p>\n