Increasing Providers’ Adherence to Ordering Urine Microalbumin Tests

• Main Author: Fadele, Florence
• Format: Others
• Published: NSUWorks 2017
• Subjects: Health and environmental sciences; Diabetic patients; Provider compliance; Nursing
• Online Access: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_con_stuetd/47; https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=hpd_con_stuetd

Currently, a microalbumin urine test is an annual test for diabetic patients recommended by the American Diabetes Association, but primary care providers are not ordering the tests. This may be, in part, attributable to the fact that there are no guidelines for ordering microalbumin urine tests. The purpose of this capstone project was to assess providers' compliance in identifying the need for the microalbumin urine test for patients with diabetes, to develop evidence-based guidelines for monitoring and ordering microalbumin urine tests, and to evaluate providers' compliance. Rogers's theory of the diffusion of innovation provided the framework for this capstone project. A quantitative, descriptive design using a non-parametric paired t-test was used. Data was collected pre- and post-evidence based practice guidelines implementation in electronic health records. The mean monthly percentage of diabetic patients given microalbumin urine tests pre-implementation was 66.86 (SD = 4.25; 95% CI = (64.17, 69.56). The mean monthly percentage of diabetic patients given microalbumin urine tests post-implementation was 73.53 (SD = 2.58; 95% CI = (70.32, 76.73). SPSS version 23 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). The two sample t-test was statistically significant, t (15) = -3.232, p = 0.006). The introduction of evidence-based practice guidelines for ordering microalbumin urine tests improved provider compliance.