The Bright Futures Training Intervention Project: implementing systems to support preventive and developmental...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric primary care
• Quality improvement initiatives
• Preventive health services

Background:

• Bright Futures recommendations aim to improve child health and development.
• Pediatric primary care practices face challenges in consistently implementing these recommendations.
• Effective strategies are needed to integrate preventive and developmental care into routine practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of implementing a bundle of strategies to support Bright Futures recommendations.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a modified learning collaborative in enhancing preventive and developmental care.
• To identify facilitators and barriers to implementing office system improvements in pediatric practices.

Main Methods:

• A 9-month modified learning collaborative involved 15 pediatric primary care practices across 9 states.
• Practices received a toolkit, workshops, quality improvement training, and ongoing support.
• Medical chart reviews and practice self-assessments were conducted before and after the intervention.

Main Results:

• The most adopted strategies included recall/reminder systems (87%), community resource checklists (80%), and identifying children with special health care needs (80%).
• Significant increases were observed in the use of recall/reminder systems, preventive service prompting, and screening for special health care needs.
• The median number of office system components used increased from 10 to 15, indicating substantial improvement.

Conclusions:

• Implementing strategies to improve preventive and developmental care for young children is feasible across diverse practice settings.
• A modified learning collaborative model effectively facilitated office system improvements and enhanced care delivery.
• This model shows promise for disseminating office system enhancements in pediatric care settings.