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Ensuring vitamin D supplementation in nursing home patients--a quality improvement project.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Yanamadala, M; Heflin, MT; White, HK; Buhr, GT
Published in: J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr
2012

Randomized controlled trials have shown that adequate vitamin D supplementation in nursing home (NH) residents reduces the rates of falls and fractures. In our NH, review of medication administration records of all patients (n = 101) revealed that only 34.6% of the patients were currently prescribed adequate doses of vitamin D, revealing a need for intervention. We designed a Quality Improvement (QI) project with the objective of improving the vitamin D prescription rate in our NH. We used the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach to implement this QI project. Patients not currently prescribed an adequate dose of vitamin D were identified and started on a daily dose of 800 IU of vitamin D. Additionally, patients who were experiencing falls while on an adequate dose of vitamin D for 3 months were examined for the possibility of vitamin D deficiency and were started on 50,000 IU of vitamin D per week for 12 weeks if they were found to be vitamin D-deficient based on blood levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D below 30 ng/mL. We found that with several PDSA cycles over a period of 5 months, the prescription rate for vitamin D was increased to 86%, surpassing our initial goal of 80%. In conclusion, we found that a multidisciplinary QI program utilizing multiple PDSA cycles was effective in reaching target prescription rates for vitamin D supplementation in a population of NH patients.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr

DOI

EISSN

2155-1200

Publication Date

2012

Volume

31

Issue

2

Start / End Page

158 / 171

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Vitamin D Deficiency
  • Vitamin D
  • Quality Improvement
  • Nutrition & Dietetics
  • Nursing Homes
  • North Carolina
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Homes for the Aged
 

Citation

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Yanamadala, M., Heflin, M. T., White, H. K., & Buhr, G. T. (2012). Ensuring vitamin D supplementation in nursing home patients--a quality improvement project. J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr, 31(2), 158–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/21551197.2012.678240
Yanamadala, Mamata, Mitchell T. Heflin, Heidi K. White, and Gwendolen T. Buhr. “Ensuring vitamin D supplementation in nursing home patients--a quality improvement project.J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr 31, no. 2 (2012): 158–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/21551197.2012.678240.
Yanamadala M, Heflin MT, White HK, Buhr GT. Ensuring vitamin D supplementation in nursing home patients--a quality improvement project. J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr. 2012;31(2):158–71.
Yanamadala, Mamata, et al. “Ensuring vitamin D supplementation in nursing home patients--a quality improvement project.J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr, vol. 31, no. 2, 2012, pp. 158–71. Pubmed, doi:10.1080/21551197.2012.678240.
Yanamadala M, Heflin MT, White HK, Buhr GT. Ensuring vitamin D supplementation in nursing home patients--a quality improvement project. J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr. 2012;31(2):158–171.

Published In

J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr

DOI

EISSN

2155-1200

Publication Date

2012

Volume

31

Issue

2

Start / End Page

158 / 171

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Vitamin D Deficiency
  • Vitamin D
  • Quality Improvement
  • Nutrition & Dietetics
  • Nursing Homes
  • North Carolina
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Homes for the Aged