Childhood Obesity: Implementing a Provider Alert System

Childhood obesity is on the rise, leading to the development of comorbid diseases. New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stress the importance of screening for and treating childhood obesity; however, with increased patient volumes and decreased patient interaction time, pediatric primary care providers are having difficulty addressing this issue. This project aims to increase provider awareness and responsiveness to the current AAP guidelines for child and adolescent obesity. Applying concepts acquired from the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, 1974), the development of an alert system for providers when a child over the age of 10 has a body mass index (BMI) greater than the 85th percentile was created at a primary care office in the Southwestern United States. Chart reviews were completed for 1-month before the intervention and for 1-month during the intervention to assess if providers were more likely to follow the current AAP guidelines. Additionally, a pre and post-test was provided to the providers to evaluate their knowledge and confidence in the management of overweight and obese children and adolescents. A statistically significant number of increased ICD-10 codes were used (p = .036), and an increased number of laboratory studies were ordered when the alert system was used (p = .004). Additionally, providers also reported increased confidence in the utilization of the current AAP guidelines for child and adolescent obesity. An alert system targeting childhood obesity is an effective way to encourage providers to take steps to diagnose and treat this pressing problem.