Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this pilot quality improvement project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a tracking tool to improve provider adherence and documentation to the American Diabetic Association (ADA) Standards of Care (SOC) in a Midwest safety net clinic. This capstone project was developed and completed by a Doctor of Nursing Practice Student in the Family Nurse Practitioner program.|Methods: A diabetic tracking tool was developed and piloted following the ADA SOC. Throughout a nine-week pilot of the tracking tool, it was adapted without content changes for provider preference and ease of use in this setting. At the end of the pilot the content validity of the tracking tool was assessed by a panel of nurse practitioners using a Likert-type scale questionnaire. Providers within the clinic were given a questionnaire to evaluate the content usefulness of the tracking tool.|Results: The quantitative data was analyzed with descriptive statistics. All nurse practitioners concurred that the tracking tool was valid within this setting. Themes identified from the content usefulness questionnaire were that the tracking tool was found to be useful, efficient and comprehensive.|Conclusion: This quality improvement project identified specific gaps in assessment, care and resources for diabetics in a mid-western safety net clinic. Development of a diabetic tracking tool was completed using the ADA SOC. Validity and usefulness of the tracking tool was established and provider documentation was improved. The tracking tool will improve provider adherence to the guidelines through a comprehensive and systematic approach for documentation of clinical information. Future research will determine if the use of this ADA SOC tracking tool will lead to better care delivery and diabetic patient outcomes within this setting.