Depression Screening and Positive Screen Patient Characteristics in US Facilities

Learning objective: Participants will learn depression screening rage in primary care setting along with characteristics of individuals who screened positive for depression.
Background/significance: Anxiety and depression are one of the most common reasons for primary care visits. Depression is one of the leading causes of disability among people 15 years and older. Several studies have noted a relationship between depression and patient outcomes. The U.S Prevention Services Task Force (USPST) recommends screening all adults, ages 18 years and older, for depression. A positive screening for depression should be followed by a more extensive evaluation of the patient. Nurses can play a vital role in screening patients and assistance with connecting patients with follow-up care.
Methods: Using data from a national nursing quality database, we examined the rate of patients who were screened for depression and subsequent follow-up care for those who screened positive. The sample consisted of 70 primary and specialty care units in nine US facilities who submitted a one-day depression screening point prevalence study in 2022. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the screening rate and positive screened patient characteristics.
Results: Total screening rate ranged from 0% to 100% with mean rate of 60% of eligible patients screened. Over 6% of the study’s sample screened positive for depression. Positive screen patients included female (67.38%), aged 50 years and older (59.87%), while mean follow-up care plan consisted of one item with the most frequent intervention being addition evaluation. However, 23% of positive screen patients had no follow-up care documented.
Conclusions/implications: Monitoring depression screening and associated follow-up care plan implementation can provide facilities with additional information for quality improvement efforts related to behavioral health issues. While continued promotion of depression screening should be maintained in healthcare practices, it is equally important to ensure that timely follow-up and intervention is pursued for patients with positive screenings. Primary and specialty care practices can utilize quality improvement strategies to monitor rates of depression screening with documented follow-up for positive screenings to ensure an accountable correlation and engage nurses to help improve early intervention and coordination for positive depression screenings.