Starting in 2015, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Pediatrics, with funding support from the NH Charitable Foundation and the Hilton foundation, began piloting DartScreen, a tool that routinely asks teens about their depression, anxiety, substance use, sleep behaviors, self-harm behaviors, and other behaviors that impact health.  This process has made discussions about behavioral health routine in adolescent well visits at Dartmouth-Hitchcock practices, and has allowed pediatricians and teens to identify and provide health counseling and referrals to teens who identify these as concerns.

DartScreen standardizes how behavioral risk information is gathered and addressed in our practices.  Dartmouth-Hitchcock has implemented DartScreen in our Lebanon, Manchester, and Bedford pediatric clinics, is starting to use DartScreen in our Concord practice, and will be implementing DartScreen in our Nashua and Keene clinics in the near future.  In clinics that are implementing DartScreen, we are routinely screening more than 90% of patients, with a goal of achieving a screening rate over 80% at all of our pediatric clinics over the next few years.  The increases in depression screening noted here are echoed in increased rates of screening for substance misuse, other mental illnesses, self-harm, diet, and other behavioral concerns, allowing our pediatricians to be effective partners with patients in identifying and addressing these health needs as they are emerging rather than waiting for harm to occur.

Click here for a brief video featuring DartScreen and its role in the NH Screen and Intervene project fostered by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.