174 - Analysis of The Central Washington Cleft Lip and Palate Team

Analysis of The Central Washington Cleft Lip and Palate Team

Purpose: This study was a quality improvement project to describe the patients cared for by a rural cleft lip and palate team.

Methods: Charts were reviewed for all current patients of the Central Washington Cleft Lip and Palate team including patient age, gender, zip code, cleft diagnosis, and number of surgeries completed.

Results: The Central Washington Cleft Lip and Palate team serves over 10 counties with 65% of the patients residing in Yakima County. Of the 130 patients whose records were reviewed, 69 were males (53.1%) and 61 were females (46.9%). The mean patient age was 10.1 years (SD 4.9).  The patient diagnoses were as follows; 36 (28.3%) unilateral complete cleft lip and palate, 31 (24.4%) isolated cleft palate, 19 (15%) submucous cleft, 15 (11.8%) bilateral complete cleft lip and palate, 15 (11.8%) unilateral complete cleft lip, 8 (6.3%) unilateral incomplete cleft lip, 2 (1.6%) bilateral complete cleft lip, and 1 (0.8%) bilateral incomplete cleft lip.  Patients diagnosed with bilateral cleft lip and palate had significantly more surgeries, 3.9 surgeries, than patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate, 1.3 surgeries (P=.01).

Conclusion: Patients with bilateral cleft lip and palate were found to have significantly more surgeries compared to those with unilateral cleft lip and palate. The study was limited by the small sample size. Continued tracking of team measures is needed to facilitate care coordination and optimize patient and family outcomes.