Improving social needs screening in general paediatrics through project SEEK

Unmet social needs in paediatric patients contribute to poor health outcomes and increased healthcare utilisation. In order to identify unmet social needs, we aimed to improve social determinant of health (SDoH) screening of children admitted to the general paediatrics teams at our institution. Between September 2021 and September 2024, we conducted a quality improvement project by a multidisciplinary stakeholder team to improve identification of unmet social needs at our institution. We set two aims: (1) develop a screening process acceptable to families and (2) increase the percentage of children admitted to general paediatrics with SDoH screening documented across four domains, including food insecurity, transportation barriers, housing insecurity and financial strain from 0% to 60%. During the project period, 4229 patients were eligible for screening. Screening was found to be acceptable by a pilot group of patients and their families (n=22). Rates of screening improved from 0% to 56.7% after various interventions, including nursing education and feedback, providing meal trays from the cafeteria to families in need, and integration of the screening questionnaire into the electronic health record. Food insecurity screening positively correlated with SDoH screening across all four domains. This multidisciplinary quality improvement project implemented SDoH screening on general paediatrics which was found acceptable by patients, and rates of screening improved by addressing identified needs. Tangible resources, such as providing meal trays during the hospitalisation, were a unique aspect of this project that helped families and alleviated distress of the screeners.