A Resident Initiative Improves Hepatitis C Screening Rates in Primary Care Clinics

Electronic reminders for clinical patient counseling have proven to be an effective response to national recommendations to increase risk factor and birth cohort hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening. It is not known whether a resident-led educational intervention alone could increase screening rates where support for electronic intervention may be limited.

We determined whether a resident-designed and resident-implemented educational intervention would significantly improve HCV screening rates in primary care clinics.

The baseline HCV screening rate was determined retrospectively in our resident community-based primary care clinics. We then implemented an educational intervention that included presenting during resident conference, posting signs in resident work areas, and providing educational pamphlets to patients. We collected screening rate data at 3 and 6 months postintervention. The screening rate was defined as patients screened in clinic divided by the number of patients eligible for screening.

The screening rate increased significantly from preintervention (6%, 64 of 1023) to 3 months (35%, 363 of 1026) and 6 months (41%, 443 of 1070) and between 3 and 6 months (P < .001). The percentage of screened patients who pursued testing increased significantly between preintervention (62%, 16 of 26) and 6 months (81%, 105 of 130), and between 3 months (67%, 95 of 141) and 6 months (P = .019).

An educational intervention designed and implemented by residents significantly increased the screening and testing rates for HCV in community-based resident clinics.