Good Afternoon Dr. Robinson and class, For pregnant patients, during weeks 38-40 of gestation, does screening for depression with the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, compared to current practice (postpartum period only), impact earlier identification and referrals to counseling in 8-10 weeks? Mental health screening is minimal during the postpartum visit in private practice, while a psychological evaluation is unusual during the prenatal period (Long et al., 2018). The current approach is to assess mothers during the postpartum period and take action only after a diagnosis has been established. It has been researched that screening and early recognition are the most critical steps in treating PPD (Ghafoor et al., 2020). Globally, the prevalence of PPD is 17.7%, according to a systematic review that included 291 studies from 56 countries (Hahn-Holbrook et al., 2018). At a local level, depression is a burden to the community. PPD causes severe, long-lasting developmental problems for the infant that lead to potential lifetime complications and disruption of the newborn well-being. Infants of mothers who suffer from depressive moods are prone to malnutrition and inadequate cognitive skills (Slomian et al., 2019). In this project, the practice question studies if, for pregnant patients, during weeks 38-40 of gestation, does screening for depression with the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, compared to current practice (
postpartum period only), impacts earlier identification and referrals to counseling in 8-10 weeks? A maximum of 160 patients will be assessed and referred as needed. The results are to be determined. . Implementation is going as planned. Staff are less resistant to the new task and understand the importance of the intervention. The hardest part of this project is to find the mental health solutions for these pregnant patients. The office has a resource for Medicaid patients, but it is restricted to our county. This option is not available for patients who traveled from a different county to our office or have commercial insurance. Kindly, Danay Sosa Ghafoor, M., Usmani, R., Choudhary, Z., Ahmad, S., Nazir, A., & Irshad, F. (2020). Frequency and determinants of postpartum depression. , (05), 1017-1021. Hahn-Holbrook, J., Cornwell-nrichs, T., & Anaya, I. (2018). Economic and Health Predictors of National Postpartum Depression Prevalence: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-Regression of 291 Studies from 56 Countries. , , 248. Long, M., Cramer, R., Jenkins, J., Bennington, L., & Paulson, J. (2018). A systematic review of interventions for healthcare professionals to improve screening and referral for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. , (1), 25-36. Slomian, Honvo, G., Emonts, P., Reginster, J.-Y., & Bruyère, O. (2019). Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes. ,