Background: Dyslipidemia, or high cholesterol levels, continues to be an issue in adults in the United States. About 93 million adults and nearly 7% of children in the U.S. have high cholesterol levels, which increases their risk for other chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Preventative Task Force (USPTF) recommended that all children between the ages of 9-11 years old get screened for lipid disorders, otherwise known as inversal lipid screening. Despite these recommendations, the universal dyslipidemia screening rates for this population in primary care settings remain low. Purpose: This evidence-based project focuses on improving universal dyslipidemia screening rates in a primary care clinic. The aim is to incoporate a point of care checklist to aid providers and to facilitate the process. The frameworks used in this project are the Model for Improvement and Lewin’s Theory of Change. Methods: An educational in-service was provided to the health care provider team, which consists of three doctoral prepared nurse practitioners and one nurse practitioner students. The in-service included information regarding current literature on the effects of high cholesterol levels in children and the potential effect that those levels will have on their health later in life. In addition, the most current diagnostic tools were proivded in order to improve providers’ confidence level on this topic. A pre//post survey will be provided to participants to measure their confidence level before and after the educational intervention. A retrospective chart audit comparing screening rates from 2020 and 2021 was also performed to assess effectivity of diagnostic tools. Results: This project measured providers’ confidence level when treating dyslipidemia screening in children before and after the project implementation period. Although the results of the survey were not considered statistically significant, there was some clinical significance as evidenced by reviewing the survey questions individually. The project also compared the number of children who were screened within the same time period in 2020 versus the number of children screened during the project implementation period. The dyslipidemia screening rates in children ages 9-11 increased from 0% to 72.7%. Conclusion/Recommendations: For future implementation, the plan of care checklist will be adapted into an electronic version. The recommendation is that Affinity Family Practice continues to use the tools provided for screening and diagnostic purposes. This will continue to help increase the dyslipidemia rates in children ages 9-11 and promote wellness and prevention of chronic diseases.
