P3.S375: Improving Awareness of WIC Resources and Eligibility: A Military Pediatric Resident Quality Improvement Project

Purpose/Objectives: Studies demonstrate food insecurity affects 17.3% (6.4 million) of US households with children (US Department of Agriculture), with rates in military families ranging from 16% (Military Family Advisory Network) to 51% (Military Teen Experience Survey). Women Infants and Children (WIC) programs provide nutritional resources for pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under five years old. In 2021, only 51.2% of US households eligible for WIC services were enrolled. Many military families are eligible for WIC services, but screening for WIC eligibility is not standardized across military facilities. We initiated a resident-driven quality improvement project in a military pediatric clinic to screen for WIC eligibility and direct patients towards WIC resources.

Design/Methods: Following the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Model for Improvement, residents gathered background information, set outcome goals, mapped processes, targeted interventions for PDSA (plan-do-study-act) cycles, and implemented changes. Residents designed a WIC screening form given at all two-week to four-year-old well visits and a resource handout highlighting WIC resources, including eligibility evaluation and community resources. Our primary outcome measure was the percentage of WIC screening performed at age-eligible well exams; our secondary outcome measure was the percentage of screened families receiving the resources handout if interested. Our goal was to achieve 80% WIC screening and 80% handout distribution.

Results: Over 6 months, WIC screening increased from 0% to 42% (Figure 1), and handouts given from 0% to 35% (Figure 2). The most successful interventions were centralizing distribution and collection of screening forms to trained support staff and updating the location of the handout to a central location. Challenges that decreased our screening rates included a transition to a new electronic health record during our intervention and significant turnover in support staff. We generalized our process for increasing WIC resources awareness to our facility’s Women’s Health clinic.

Conclusion/Discussion: A resident-driven QI project increased WIC screening rates in a military pediatric clinic despite not meeting our target rates. Engaging support staff and centralizing resources were the most effective interventions to increase screening for WIC eligibility and improve rates of resources delivered to combat food insecurity.

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the authors alone and do not reflect those of the United States Air Force, Defense Health Agency, Department of Defense, or United States Government.