Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
12-1-2025
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Paige Wimberley
Abstract
Breast cancer maintains its position as the leading cause of cancer-related death for women worldwide and remains the second deadliest cancer among female patients in the United States (Centers for Disease Control, 2024). The screening rates at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which serve medically underserved communities, remain lower than national benchmarks, thus putting their patients at risk for receiving late-stage cancer diagnoses. This quality improvement project implemented an evidence-based electronic medical record (EMR) provider alert tool at a Northeast Georgia FQHC to address a baseline mammogram order compliance rate falling below national standards at 45%. The project aimed to determine if integrating an EHR provider alert that automatically appeared during any patient visit for a woman aged 40-74 due for a mammogram would increase provider compliance with mammography guidelines. The intervention was implemented for eight weeks and guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework. A chi-square test revealed a statistically significant increase in the proportion of orders from pre-intervention (n = 144, 45.0%) to post-intervention (n = 238, 69.6%), X2(1, n = 662) = 40.96, p < 0.00001. Participants in the post-intervention group had 2.80 times higher odds of getting an order versus participants in the pre-intervention group (95% CI 2.03 – 3.85). This project demonstrates a workable and enduring method to improve early breast cancer detection at this FQHC, which will minimize disparities in patient results.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Stephens, Tiny, "Quality Improvement Project: Increasing Breast Cancer Screening Rates Among Women Ages 40-74 at a Federally Qualified Health Center by Implementing a Provider Alert Tool" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 261.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/261
