Primary Care Providers' Barriers and Adherence to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Mammography Screening Guidelines.

Earlier detection through mammography screening, increased awareness, and improved treatment modalities has resulted in a decline in breast cancer incidence. Despite the availability of the clinical guidelines by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), adherence to these methods is only 42% (Meissener, Klabunde, Breen, & Zapka, 2011). The purpose of this scholarly project was to identify and improve provider's adherence to the USPSTF mammography screening clinical guidelines in three primary care clinics located in Southeastern North Carolina. The project included development of an educational program to increase awareness of the guidelines followed by measures to increase screening. A posteducation intervention chart review was completed to determine if there was an increase in adherence and use to the guidelines. Sample size included 90 retrospective chart reviews of the patients meeting the criteria for mammography screening. Based on the results, further recommendations were provided to the providers to improve adherence. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics. The findings of this project identified barriers to the adherence to the USPSTF mammography screening guidelines among primary care providers in the three clinics selected. The educational intervention increased the adherence to the USPSTF mammography screening guideline from 15% to 16%.