Implementation of the CGI-S Screening Tool at an Outpatient Mental Health Clinic

Background: Psychiatric providers struggle to keep consistent records of patient outcomes through valid and reliable statistical tools compared to their medical provider counterparts (Kilbourne et al., 2018). The Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) tool is a well- established research rating tool applicable to all psychiatric disorders that the practicing clinician can easily apply to daily practice (Busner & Targum, 2007). The CGI-S has been shown to have comparable validity and reliability to other statistically validated tools (Østergaard et al., 2018). Methods: A quality improvement project was developed to increase provider awareness and clinical use of the CGI-S tool at a mental health outpatient clinic in Murray, Utah. Clinicians were assessed through a pre-survey to identify knowledge and experience with the CGI-S in practice. An educational presentation was developed and presented to the clinic providers, which included history, background, clinical application, and instructions for use in the clinical setting of the CGI-S. A post-presentation survey was distributed to clinicians to evaluate the efficacy of the presentation. The clinicians were then given a period to adjust to utilizing the tool in daily practice before a chart audit was conducted. A follow-up survey was given to evaluate satisfaction and provider-reported use of the CGI-S. Results: Post-intervention, the project found that 60% (n=3) of providers reported utilizing the CGI-S "sometimes," and 40% (n=2) of providers reported using the CGI-S "often." The results were significant compared to 100% (n=5) reporting they "rarely" used the CGI-S prior to the intervention. Conclusions: The presentation and its subsequent reminders appear to be advantageous in implementing the CGI-S in clinical practice. Replication of this project is necessary to determine if additional training or intervention is necessary to achieve higher rates of CGI-S tool use.