Documentation of Preventive Medicine Practices in a University-Based Primary Care Clinic System: A Pilot Study

Benavides, John P., Rene, Antonio A., Marshall Muriel A., Singh, Karan P. Documentation of Preventive Medicine Practices in a University-Based Primary Care Clinic System: A Pilot Study. The Significance of tracking preventive services is important when one considers the changing mortality patterns over the past century. Preventable sources of morbidity and mortality, highlighted by smoking and unhealthy nutritional and physical activity patterns, has resulted in over 700,000 deaths a year and provide examples for the need to optimize the delivery of primary prevention. The purpose of this study was to determine the delivery of preventive services in an osteopathic medicine-based university primary care system. Five family practice clinics affiliated with a university-based health science center participated. These clinics serve as ambulatory practice sites for faculty osteopathic physicians, physician assistants, and medical students. There were over 30,000 outpatient visits last year to the five family practice clinics. Differences in Preventive Flow Sheet documentation rates among the different clinics was noted. Female preventive flow sheet documentation was the most commonly performed, but cardiovascular risk assessment was the least documented. Females were also observed to have more preventive service documentation concerning alcohol use, abuse, and addiction.