Put prevention into practice (PPIP): evaluating PPIP in two family practice residency sites.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP) office system is a set of office tools designed to address physician, patient, and system barriers to the provision of clinical preventive services. This study evaluated the effect of using PPIP on the delivery of clinical preventive services at two family practice residency sites. METHODS: After a careful planning process at each clinic, a 1-year trial was conducted with implementation of PPIP at two residency sites compared to two control residency sites. The subjects included adults age 19 and older Data were collected via chart extraction on 300 randomly selected patients per clinic for the following three outcomes: health risk factor assessment (for limited physical activity, poor nutrition habits, and tobacco use), health promotion/counseling (for nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco use), and screening rates (clinical breast exam, cholesterol, fecal occult blood test, mammography, and Pap smear). RESULTS: Only inconsistent or sporadic differences in risk factor assessment, health promotion counseling, and screening were seen when comparing implementation and control sites. CONCLUSIONS: PPIP had little effect on the delivery of clinical preventive services. Future research should include a careful analysis of the users of PPIP and the environments in which they practice.