Just-released METRIC Module Tackles Depression

The Academy's performance improvement program known as METRIC, or Measuring, Evaluating and Translating Research Into Care, recently launched a new module on depression that will be of special interest to family physicians.

Bruce Bagley, M.D., AAFP's medical director of quality improvement, said the latest module -- Depression: Improving Patient Care -- will help physicians organize their approach to treating patients with depression. "Depression is a condition that can be difficult to manage in an organized way for your patients; many family physicians probably think it would be harder to use a team approach and measure outcomes (for depression) than it would be for a disease like diabetes," said Bagley.

Diseases and conditions covered in METRIC modules are chosen, in part, based on how often family physicians see patients with these complaints in their practices. National surveys indicate that up to 35 million adults, or roughly 16 percent of U.S. adults, will have a major depressive disorder in their lifetime.

Family physicians, no doubt, count a good number of those adults among their patients.

In addition, America's seniors, who often turn to their primary care physicians for health care services, suffer in great numbers from depression. In fact, according to METRIC resources, as many as one-third of older Americans exhibit depressive symptoms. The rate of depression is even higher for elderly individuals living in nursing homes.

The depression module format is similar to that of the other five METRIC modules available to physicians. Users follow these steps to complete the module:

"Having an objective measure of depression symptoms and using that as a gauge for improvement is very much like monitoring hemoglobin A1c in patients with diabetes," said Bagley. Simply put, the practice engages in a systematic team approach to care using a common game plan, he added.

"The METRIC model works in the management of diabetes, and there's no reason why it won't work just as well in managing depression," said Bagley.

The METRIC program launched in 2005 as a performance improvement initiative designed to link evidence-based medicine with education. The goal is to help physicians gauge their management of chronic diseases while they measure and work to improve patient outcomes.

Physicians who complete a METRIC module will receive 20 Prescribed credits toward AAFP CME requirements and fulfill the requirement for Part IV -- the performance-in-practice module -- of the American Board of Family Medicine's Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians program.

Family medicine residency programs can use METRIC to fulfill requirements for quality improvement projects required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Residency programs can register residents and faculty free of charge.

Support for the METRIC depression module is made possible by an educational grant through the AAFP Foundation from The Atlantic Philanthropies.