Date of Award
Summer 2023
Document Type
Final DNP Paper
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Family Nurse Practitioner
Department
Nursing
Faculty Chair
Dr. Lori McGrath
Preceptor
Dr. Morgan
Abstract
Background: The benefit of identifying a pediatric patient with obesity is to prevent many chronic health conditions that can occur from diabetes. Pediatric patients can be at risk for prediabetes, low self-esteem, and musculoskeletal issues. The patients that are at higher risk for childhood obesity are African American and Hispanics.
Purpose: The Doctor of Nursing Practice project aims to identify a pediatric patient that is obese to make sure that the patient is assessed appropriately and to discuss an appropriate intervention for the patient. To make sure all pediatrics have an accurate height, weight, and A1C during their well-child visit.
Methods: The quality improvement project involves the 5-4-3-2-1-0 healthy habits for obese pediatric patients. The intervention used for the DNP project was (1) making sure the pediatric patient gets at least one hour of physical activity or active play every day (Brown et. al., 2018). The triage staff made sure that every child who had a well-child annual visit was weighed, and had their height recorded. If the patient’s BMI was greater than 95% then the provider educated the parent about the results and encouraged the patient and parent to incorporate more exercise or active play into the patient’s lifestyle.
Results: After the DNP project was completed the results were not significantly increased. The result concluded one patient showed up once and lost three pounds. This patient did not follow thru the whole six weeks of the project.
Conclusion: The project did show a significant number of patients that follow up for weight and A1C checks.
Recommended Citation
Thomas, Kesha, "Initiating a Childhood Obesity Screening Process in an Urban Pediatric Office" (2023). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 112.
https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/etds_nursing/112