Effect of a Type 2 Diabetes-Focused Visit Improvement Initiative on Therapeutic Inertia and Glycemic Control in Primary Care.

Quality Improvement Success Stories are published by the American Diabetes Association in collaboration with the American College of Physicians and the National Diabetes Education Program. This series is intended to highlight best practices and strategies from programs and clinics that have successfully improved the quality of care for people with diabetes or related conditions. Each article in the series is reviewed and follows a standard format developed by the editors of Clinical Diabetes. The following article describes a multicomponent quality improvement initiative in the Chicago, IL, area that used a diabetes-focused clinic visit to overcome barriers that lead to clinical inertia for type 2 diabetes.

Attitudes of Clinicians and Patient Safety Culture Before and After the ARRIVE Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the attitudes of intrapartum clinicians about elective induction of labor before and after A Randomized Trial of Induction Versus Expectant Management (ARRIVE) and to assess the effect of different attitudes on patient safety culture. DESIGN: Repeated cross-sectional design. SETTING: Online surveys. PARTICIPANTS: Clinicians (883 nurses and 201 physicians in the before-ARRIVE group and 1,741 nurses and 574 physicians in the after-ARRIVE group) who provided intrapartum care at 35 hospitals in California in 2017 and 57 hospitals in Michigan in 2020 and participated in statewide quality improvement efforts to reduce use of cesarean. METHODS: We used annual nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean rates to stratify hospitals into performance quartiles. We used cumulative proportional odds logistic regression to examine induction attitudes before and after ARRIVE by role and hospital performance quartile as well as induction attitudes and patient safety culture among clinicians. We used content analysis to examine qualitative data. RESULTS: After ARRIVE, physicians' attitudes shifted in favor of induction at hospitals within the top three performance categories (top quartile: M = 3.48 vs. 2.81, p < .0001), whereas nurses' attitudes did not change (p = .388). After ARRIVE, attitudes among clinicians were more aligned at hospitals with stronger patient safety cultures. Qualitative themes included The Timing of Induction is Important, Who Should Have Inductions, Need for Clear Protocols and More Staff, and Ideas to Improve the Induction of Labor Process. CONCLUSION: Physician attitudes about induction were significantly different before versus after ARRIVE, whereas nurse attitudes were not. Differences in attitudes may erode the quality of team-based care; intentional interdisciplinary engagement is essential when implementing ARRIVE findings.

Preconception, Interconception, and reproductive health screening tools: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and describe the standardized interconception and preconception screening tools for reproductive health needs that are applicable in general outpatient clinical practice. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: This systematic review identifies research on pregnancy intention screening and counseling tools, and standardized approaches to preconception and interconception care. We focus on tools designed for clinical settings, but also include research tools with potential for clinical implementation. These tools may include a component of contraceptive counseling, but those focusing solely on contraceptive counseling were excluded. Data were collected from studies done in the United States between January 2000 and March 2022. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a systematic literature search to generate a list of unique tools, assessed the quality of evidence supporting each tool, and described the peer-reviewed clinical applications of each. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool to appraise the quality of individual studies. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases for standardized preconception and interconception health screening tools published in English from January 2000 through March 2022. We used keywords "preconception care," "interconception care," "family planning," "contraception," "reproductive health services," and "counseling." Utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews guidelines, we screened titles and abstracts to identify studies for full text review. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The search resulted in 15,399 studies. After removing 4172 duplicates, we screened 11,227 titles/abstracts and advanced 207 for full-text review. From these, we identified 53 eligible studies representing 22 tools/standardized approaches, of which 10 had evidence from randomized clinical trials. These ranged widely in design, setting, and population of study. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians have a choice of tools when implementing standard reproductive screening services. A growing body of research can inform the selection of an appropriate tool, and more study is needed to establish effects on long-term patient outcomes.

Facilitators of and Barriers to Successful Implementation of the One Key Question® Pregnancy Intention Screening Tool.

Background: One Key Question® (OKQ) is a tool that embeds a patient-centered screening into routine visits with the goal of making pregnancy intention screening universal, but widespread implementation has not yet been adopted. We aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators of OKQ implementation to better understand how to best implement the tool across different settings. Methods: We invited staff and clinicians from one obstetrics and gynecology clinic and one family medicine clinic, which previously implemented OKQ, to complete surveys and qualitative interviews about their experiences with the tool. The interview guide and thematic analysis of the interview transcripts were informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Main Findings: Major facilitators of OKQ implementation are the simplicity of the tool, engagement of clinic leadership, and compatibility between the perceived goals of the tool and those of practice staff and clinicians. Although participants indicated that OKQ had a minimal impact on clinic workflow during its implementation, preimplementation time concerns were a major barrier to implementation in both clinics. Barriers seen in the family medicine practice included OKQ distracting from the visit agenda, and concerns about the OKQ gold standard protocol of screening each patient at every visit. Participants even suggested asking OKQ only during annual check-up appointments. Conclusions: The perceived alignment between the tool's goals and those of clinic stakeholders was an important facilitator of OKQ implementation success. However, characteristics of the clinic setting, such as competing medical priorities and time constraints, influenced initial attitudes toward the feasibility of the intervention. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT03947788.

Psychometric validation of a patient-reported experience measure of obstetric racism© (The PREM-OB Scale™ suite).

BACKGROUND: Perinatal quality improvement lacks valid tools to measure adverse hospital experiences disproportionately impacting Black mothers and birthing people. Measuring and mitigating harm requires using a framework that centers the lived experiences of Black birthing people in evaluating inequitable care, namely, obstetric racism. We sought to develop a valid patient-reported experience measure (PREM) of Obstetric Racism© in hospital-based intrapartum care designed for, by, and with Black women as patient, community, and content experts. METHODS: PROMIS© instrument development standards adapted with cultural rigor methodology. Phase 1 included item pool generation, modified Delphi method, and cognitive interviews. Phase 2 evaluated the item pool using factor analysis and item response theory. RESULTS: Items were identified or written to cover 7 previously identified theoretical domains. 806 Black mothers and birthing people completed the pilot test. Factor analysis concluded a 3 factor structure with good fit indices (CFI = 0.931-0.977, RMSEA = 0.087-0.10, R2  > .3, residual correlation < 0.15). All items in each factor fit the IRT model and were able to be calibrated. Factor 1, "Humanity," had 31 items measuring experiences of safety and accountability, autonomy, communication, and empathy. A 12-item short form was created to ease respondent burden. Factor 2, "Racism," had 12 items measuring experiences of neglect and mistreatment. Factor 3, "Kinship," had 7 items measuring hospital denial and disruption of relationships between Black mothers and their child or support system. CONCLUSIONS: The PREM-OB Scale™ suite is a valid tool to characterize and quantify obstetric racism for use in perinatal improvement initiatives.

Culture That Facilitates Change: A Mixed Methods Study of Hospitals Engaged in Reducing Cesarean Deliveries.

PURPOSE: Large-scale efforts to reduce cesarean deliveries have shown varied levels of impact; yet understanding factors that contribute to hospitals' success are lacking. We aimed to characterize unit culture differences at hospitals that successfully reduced their cesarean rates compared with those that did not. METHODS: A mixed methods study of California hospitals participating in a statewide initiative to reduce cesarean delivery. Participants included nurses, obstetricians, family physicians, midwives, and anesthesiologists practicing at participating hospitals. Hospitals' net change in nulliparous, term, singleton, and vertex cesarean delivery rates classified them as successful if they achieved either a minimum 5 percentage point reduction or rate of fewer than 24%. The Labor Culture Survey was used to quantify differences in unit culture. Key informant interviews were used to explore quantitative findings and characterize additional cultural barriers and facilitators. RESULTS: Out of 55 hospitals, 37 (n = 840 clinicians) meeting inclusion criteria participated in the Labor Culture Survey. Physicians' individual attitudes differed by hospital success on 5 scales: best practices (P = .003), fear (P = .001), cesarean safety (P = .014), physician oversight (P <.001), and microculture (P = .044) scales. Patient ability to make informed decisions showed poor agreement across all hospitals, but was higher at successful hospitals (38% vs 29%, P = .01). Important qualitative themes included: ease of access to shared resources on best practices, fear of bad outcomes, personal resistance to change, collaborative practice and effective communication, leadership engagement, and cultural flexibility. CONCLUSIONS: Successful hospitals' culture and context was measurably different from nonresponders. Leveraging these contextual factors may facilitate success.

Effects of clinic-level implementation of One Key Question® on reproductive health counseling and patient satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effect of clinic level implementation of the One Key Question (OKQ) intervention, including physician and staff training and workflow adjustments, on reproductive counseling and patient satisfaction in primary care and ob/gyn. STUDY DESIGN: We implemented the OKQ intervention in one primary care and one ob/gyn practice, while observing another primary care and ob/gyn practice that each provided usual care (control practices). We surveyed separate patient cohorts at two time points: 26 before and 33 after the primary care practice implemented OKQ, 38 before and 36 after the ob/gyn practice implemented OKQ, 26 and 37 at the primary care control practice, and 31 and 37 at the ob/gyn control practice. We used chi square tests to assess OKQ's effects on counseling rates and patient satisfaction, comparing intervention to control practices across time points. RESULTS: In primary care, from before to after implementation, the intervention practice did not significantly increase reproductive counseling (69-76%, p = 0.58), but increased patient satisfaction (81-97%, p = 0.04) while the control practice demonstrated a decrease in patient satisfaction over the same time periods. In the ob/gyn clinics, no significant change in reproductive counseling or patient satisfaction was seen in the intervention practice, while the control practice demonstrated a decrease in patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing OKQ appears to increase patient satisfaction. Larger studies are needed to assess whether this clinic-level intervention may increase reproductive counseling. IMPLICATIONS: Further studies of the impact of clinic-level implementation of OKQ are needed.