Failure to Thrive among Immigrant and Refugee Children: A Quality Improvement Project to Innovate a Primary Care...

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Public Health
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Elevated rates of failure to thrive (FTT) were observed in immigrant and refugee children within a diverse primary care clinic.
• There was a need to enhance the quality of primary care services for this vulnerable population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a quality improvement (QI) project aimed at improving primary care for children with FTT.
• To assess the impact of the QI intervention on clinical follow-up, growth parameters, and provider confidence.

Main Methods:

• A QI intervention was developed, including a patient registry, provider education manual, and group visits for patients with shared primary languages.
• Clinical follow-up rates, growth parameters (comparing group visits to standard care), and provider confidence/satisfaction were evaluated.

Main Results:

• Patient follow-up rates significantly improved across all patients post-intervention (p=.002).
• No significant differences in growth parameters were found between children in group visits (n=12) and those receiving standard care (n=56).
• Providers (n=16) reported increased confidence and satisfaction following the intervention.

Conclusions:

• The QI initiative successfully improved patient follow-up and provider confidence/satisfaction in managing FTT in pediatric primary care.
• The study highlights an innovative model for enhancing care for immigrant and refugee children with FTT.
• Further research with larger sample sizes is required to determine the impact on growth parameters.