Cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer in United States with more than 12,000 women diagnosed each year and more than 4,000 preventable deaths with minorities disproportionally represented. Cervical cancer prevention strategies rarely focus on the management of abnormal screening results. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to standardize the management program for abnormal cervical cancer screening results within an integrated health delivery system serving a large minority community. The Plan-Do-Study-Act model guided a comprehensive program evaluation with process improvement, including the creation of an electronic quality data reporting tool to formalize the work process and a quality control and assurance program with exception reports. The evaluation was completed with data to measure the timeliness of abnormal results outreach and continued clinical management. The data were evaluated over time with run charts. Also, an analysis of the data was done through pre- and post-test comparisons with 2-sample t tests to evaluate abnormal cervical cancer screening management before and after the revisions. Although the project did not show a statistically significant difference in the timeliness of outreach and follow-up of abnormal cervical cancer screening results due to the limited data set, the run charts trended positively for timeliness and consistent data reporting with no missed screening reports. Effective cervical cancer screening includes the accurate and timely management of abnormal results to reduce disparities in cervical cancer deaths. This project contributes to positive social change by responding to the Healthy People 2020 goal to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer deaths through a formal process to insure timely intervention for abnormal results in a largely minority community.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:waldenu.edu/oai:scholarworks.waldenu.edu:dissertations-4927 |
| Date | 01 January 2017 |
| Creators | Rader, Dana Greene |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | Walden University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies |
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