Improved Adherence to Lipid Screening in the Pediatric Cardiology Clinic: A Quality Improvement Project

Lipid screening identifies at-risk patients to facilitate cardiovascular risk reduction. National pediatric guidelines recommend universal lipid screening between 9-11 and 17-21 years of age. We aimed to improve adherence to lipid screening for all age-appropriate outpatient pediatric cardiology visits from a baseline of 35% to 90% between November 2021 and July 2023.

All outpatient visits for patients 9-11 and 17-21 years were included. Chart review and an Epic electronic health record report identified patients screened, lipid test results, and need for further testing. A P-chart was generated. After establishing a baseline for 8 weeks, interventions, including an Epic dot phrase, group and individual feedback, and Epic best practice alert (BPA), were incorporated via plan-do-study-act cycles. Balancing measures included anonymous provider surveys on visit length and experience.

More than 1,700 patient visits were included. At baseline, 35% of all age-appropriate patients were screened. The Epic dot phrase prompted a positive shift with a new mean of 59% screened. Another change occurred after the BPA alert, with an increase in screening to 84%. Lipid screening prompted by this initiative found that 38% of those with testing results in Epic had abnormal results requiring follow-up. Providers did not report a significant change in visit length due to screening.

Quality improvement interventions improved adherence to universal lipid screening guidelines. The Epic dot phrase and BPA facilitated positive shifts. These simple interventions can be spread to other practices to improve adherence to lipid screening and other guidelines.