Title : Depression screening and management in primary care
Abstract:
Depression is the most common mental health disorder in the United States affecting adults and is a growing public health crisis. Adults experiencing depressive symptoms increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Depression prevalence is highest among young adults 18-25 years of age. Early identification and treatment of depression is vital to improving patient health outcomes. Despite recommended guidelines for routine depression screening, less than 5% of adult patients are screened for depression in primary care settings. This presentation will describe the 90-day DNP project titled “Depression Screening and Management: An Evidenced-Based Protocol”. The overall aim for this project was to increase healthcare providers’ knowledge of depression and screening and implement depression screening and treatment to improve patient outcomes that are seen in a primary care setting. This was completed by administering the PHQ 2 and PHQ 9 to adult patients in a primary care setting. Providers also gave applicable patients a depression treatment plan based on their score. After data analysis, it was concluded that there was statistical difference between the number of patients being screened for depression pre-project implementation compared to post-project implementation. There was also an increase in 70% of patients being treated for depression. Providers reported they were more likely to screen for depression after having a depression screening and management protocol in place. Overall, this simple, yet highly beneficial, project has set the precedent for how physicians and nurse practitioners diagnose and manage depression in outpatient primary care settings.
