Improving Adolescent Health Outcomes Through Preventive Care Transformation
Condition: Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Depression Diagnosis; Substance Use Disorders
MeSH terms: Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Substance-Related Disorders
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Preventive care for adolescents is vitally important for maximizing their health and
      well-being. Unfortunately, pediatric primary care frequently fails to meet the preventive
      needs of adolescents as demonstrated by poor health outcomes for this population.

      In this grant application, the investigators propose to expand an existing computer decision
      support system (CDSS) into the investigators adolescent primary care practices for the
      purpose of implementing a comprehensive, and developmentally appropriate, screening and
      physician decision support process. Prior work completed by the investigators research group
      has demonstrated the feasibility of using CDSS to implement and evaluate clinical guidelines.
      The investigators seek to positively impact the effectiveness of preventative primary care
      visits by applying this previous success to the investigators adolescent practice. The
      investigators hypothesize that the implementation of developmentally appropriate universal
      screening practices, using tablet technology, and enhanced physician decision support
      regarding clinically relevant guidelines for all annual adolescent preventive care visits
      will result in better health outcomes, including higher rates of adherence to physician
      recommendations and improved patient functioning.

      The specific research aims of this proposal are:

      Aim 1: Expand and modify an existing CDSS to include an Adolescent Preventive Care Module
      comprised of developmentally appropriate screening tools for adolescents aged 11 to 21 years
      and tailored evidence-based clinical decision support for physicians.

      Aim 2: Evaluate the impact of the Adolescent Preventive Care Module on the identification of
      specific mental and physical health problems and treatment outcomes in an adolescent primary
      health care setting.

      Adolescent primary care issues of interest for this project include sexually transmitted
      infection (STI), depression, substance use and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) immunization. The
      investigators expect this project to improve the health outcomes of adolescents, guide future
      efforts to implement universal screening and CDSS in a variety of primary care settings, and
      provide additional evidence to support broad-based electronic screening and computerized
      decision support for use in preventive care as a method for improving adolescent health.
    


Intervention name(s): Adolescent CDSS
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): computer decision support system (CDSS) for health care providers of adolescents in primary care
Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Adolescent from primary care clinics will be studied
      
Keywords: Adolescent; Screening; Primary Care; Computer Decision Support Systems