One-hour training improves documentation to diagnose, treat tardive dyskinesia

An annual one-hour Abnormal Involuntary Movement Score (AIMS) training session improves documentation to recognize and treat tardive dyskinesia in the psychiatry outpatient clinic, according to a study recently published in Cureus.

Arindam C. Chakrabarty, M.D., from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, and colleagues followed a Lean Six Sigma quality improvement model, using the steps of define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. Reasons for AIMS nondocumentation were assessed among psychiatry attendings and residents, and preferred solutions to increase compliance were ranked. AIMS documentation compliance was examined prior to and after implementation of improvements in a random sample of patient charts for individuals on antipsychotic medications.

The researchers found that implementing a one-hour AIMS training session was the most highly ranked solution. Compared with preintervention, a random sample of 60 patient charts showed that significantly more patients had AIMS documented three months postintervention (87 versus 3 percent).

"A one-hour educational intervention increased the rates of screening from 3 to 87 percent," the authors write. "This is an important intervention in view of the nature of the side effects, its prevalence, and the recent approval of effective medications for treatment."