Hi, my name is Nicole Clark, and I'm a third-year osteopathic medical student at the Rowan Virtual School of Osteopathic Medicine in New Jersey. Today, I will be presenting my research on investigating patient barriers in receiving mammography screenings following the COVID-19 pandemic. I have a lifelong passion for women's health, and when I was formulating this project, I wanted to find what the women of South Jersey were struggling with. Through discussions with the family medicine faculty at Rowan, I found out the frustrations that the physicians were experiencing with many of their female patients not following up with their mammogram orders. During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of all basic cancer screenings declined due to patient safety and fear of contracting the coronavirus. However, even in 2023, after the height of the pandemic, there were still low rates of female patients at the Rowan Virtua Family Medicine Stratford, New Jersey office in completing their mammograms according to the American Cancer Society's guidelines. My project aims to investigate the reasons why this was occurring. Through a 14-question survey, I asked female patients between the ages of 40 and 75 questions regarding their demographics, mammogram history, family, and personal breast cancer history. Sixty-five patients completed the survey in the family medicine office on the Stratford, New Jersey campus. The majority of our patients were within the ages of 50 to 70 years old as seen in figure one. At the time of the survey in summer of 2023, the results showed that only 41.54% of patients had complied with the ACS mammogram screening guidelines as seen in figure two. This is concerning as 27.69% of participants reported a family history of breast cancer and 3.08% of participants reported a personal history of breast cancer. In addition, 29.23% of surveyors reported an abnormal mammogram in the past. There were also four questions that asked patients to rate why certain factors might be keeping them from scheduling their mammograms. They were rating these factors on a scale of zero to five, with zero being no effect and five being a major contributor. Such factors included access to transportation, location of the office, time commitment of the appointment, and fear of contracting COVID-19. By far, the results for rating the effect of the time commitment of the appointment showed the largest variation in ratings. Only 66.15% of patients rated the time commitment as a zero out of five, and 7.69% rated it as a five out of five, as seen in figure three. The other questions rating different factors affecting scheduling appointments all had a minimal effect on why patients might not be receiving their mammogram, with over 80% of participants rating them as a zero out of five in those other three questions. Future directions to help address the issue of time commitment for mammography appointments can include bringing the survey results to radiology offices to bring awareness to the effect of time commitment on compliance to preventative health screenings. Additionally, we urge providers to emphasize the importance of breast cancer screenings to assist with early detection for female patients eligible. There were some limitations to this study, as 52.31% of participants were white or Caucasian, limiting the diversity of the study population, as seen in figure four. Also, the sample size could be affecting the results. To find participants eligible for the study, I would check the patient charts every night before going into the office and write a list of who fit the inclusion criteria for the study to offer them participation. However, many patients who did fit the criteria did not show up for their appointment. Other patients declined being seen by a medical student. The overall goal of my project was to uncover reasons why women may not be receiving their mammograms. Future directions for this area of research can further dive into uncovering other boundaries that may still be keeping patients from completing their mammograms. This may include both physical and mental health factors, as these screenings are uncomfortable and may cause patients anxiety as well. Thank you for listening to my presentation. I look forward to hearing from the other poster presentations, and I hope you have a great weekend at OMED. Thank you.

mammogram barriers

osteopathic research

South Jersey women

screening compliance

radiology awareness