Quality/Patient Safety Goal:
Improvement in Well-Lead Screening
Goal & Summary
We are committed to effective, evidence-based care at Akron Children’s Hospital while providing a patient- and family-centered approach. One key improvement opportunity is ensuring evidence-based lead screening is completed during well-child visits.
Why is this important?
Lead toxicity in children, if undetected, can cause long-term neurocognitive damage to developing brains. Environmental lead exposure and lead toxicity can often go undetected, unless reliable screening methods are in place. At Akron Childrens, we have strengthened our lead screening processes to ensure the reliable detection of potential lead exposure in children.
What are we doing to improve?
We assembled an improvement team involving pediatricians and physician informaticists who used quality improvement methodology, clinical decision support tools within the electronic health record, and timely practice- and provider-level feedback.
What progress have we made?
Who are we partnering with to share best practices?
The improvement leaders presented portions of their work at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in 2018, and the manuscript is under revision.
