Screening for Depression in Patients with Diabetes: Addressing the Challenge

This quality improvement project instituted a routine depression screening using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for patients in a primary care practice with the goal of earlier identification and treatment of depression. A total of 115 patients were screened. A retrospective chart review revealed a statistically significant difference in the incidence and new diagnoses of depression among those with diabetes. The use of this screening was devoid of significant barriers to implementation. Although several new cases of depression were diagnosed, many patients refused treatment of any kind, necessitating future research in the area of patient barriers to depression management.