Metabolic Syndrome Screening and Assertive Community Treatment: A Quality Improvement Study.
Metabolic syndrome defines a collection of cardiometabolic illnesses that predict risk for poor physical health and early death and is highly prevalent among those with serious mental illness. Despite recommendations for routine monitoring, those with serious mental illness frequently do not receive physical health screenings. We conducted a quality improvement (QI) project to increase rates of metabolic syndrome screening in three New York City Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams. The project, conducted from December 2010 to May 2011, involved educational sessions for staff and consumers and a systematic screening protocol. We collected complete metabolic syndrome screening measurements for 71% of participating ACT consumers. We found metabolic risk to be nearly universal among participants, with over half diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. We also found high rates of previously undiagnosed hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. We describe the resources and obstacles we encountered in our QI project to make systematic metabolic screening a routine part of ACT care. This QI project suggests that ACT teams can take a leadership role in screening their consumers for physical health issues, aligning with recent policy trends to better integrate behavioral health and primary care services.
Enrico G. Castillo, MD, Columbia University Medical Center; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
Enrico G
EG
Castillo
Justin Rosati, BS, Hofstra North Shore-Long Island Jewish School of Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA.
Justin
J
Rosati
Caroline Williams, MD, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Caroline
C
Williams
Neil Pessin, PhD, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Neil
N
Pessin
David C. Lindy, MD, Visiting Nurse Service of New York; Columbia University Medical Center; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA David.Lindymd@vnsny.org.
David C
DC
Lindy
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000451:nursing; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D015897:Comorbidity; D055318:Evidence-Based Nursing; D005260:Female; D064650:Home Health Nursing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000451:nursing*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000451:nursing; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000451:nursing*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D058996:Quality Improvement; D014505:Urban Population
ACT/PACT; chronic mental illness; community mental health services; evidence-based practice; quality improvement