Background: Screening for social determinants of health (SDOH) is critical to meeting the needs of patients and accounts for 30-55% of health outcomes. This indicates overall health is influenced by social factors in addition to healthcare and lifestyle. Screening and addressing SDOH allows healthcare providers to improve health outcomes by promoting healthy lifestyles, advocating for equity, and lowering healthcare costs. Methods: In an academic adult primary care clinic, the SDOH screening process has not been updated since 2016. Screenings were completed 50% of the time and subsequent referrals were not tracked. During this 12-week quality improvement project, the clinic received education, training, and standardized workflow to screen and refer patients. The Donabedian model and the Plan-Do-Study-Act model were used to guide this project. The American Academy of Family Physicians Social Needs Screening Tool was built within the electronic health record for data collection. Results: The average SDOH screening completion rate improved to 73% and referrals were able to be captured. Conclusions: Education and training on the standardized workflow for SDOH screening and referrals resulted in an increase in patient screening and tracking referrals to community resources.
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