Electronic Tools to Assist With Identification of and Counseling for Overweight Patients

NCT ID: NCT00973661

Last Updated: 2011-07-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 2600 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2010-03-31
• Study Completion Date: 2010-09-30

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to design and assess the impact of an electronic alert and tool set to assist with physician identification and counseling of overweight patients.

Detailed Description

Overweight adults (Body Mass Index [BMI] 25-29.9) are at high risk for developing obesity, but rates of physician identification and counseling of overweight adults are low. Alerts and tools embedded in the electronic medical record have shown promise in enhancing quality improvement efforts.

Our aim is to design and assess the impact of an electronic alert and tool set to assist with identification and counseling of overweight patients with a BMI 27-29.9. Although the category of overweight patients spans BMI 25-29.9, we are including only patients with BMI 27-29.9 in order to focus resources on the most at-risk pre-obese population.

We will develop a tool set including the following components: automatic calculation of BMI, alert for overweight status, counseling template for weight loss goal-setting, linkage to referral options, and access to relevant patient handouts. Physicians in the Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation General Internal Medicine (NMFF GIM) practice who consent to participate in the study will be randomized into two groups, with one group of physicians receiving access to these tools. The other group of physicians will continue to provide their usual care for overweight patients. Outcome measures will include the following: tool usage; documentation of overweight in the problem list, encounter diagnosis, or note text; counseling for overweight and documentation of specific behavioral goals. Measures will be obtained via retrospective chart review.

Conditions

Overweight

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Electronic tools

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Electronic tool set for counseling overweight patients

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Physicians randomized to the "electronic tools" arm will receive access to a tool set to aid with counseling of overweight patients. This tool set includes the following components: automatic calculation of BMI, alert for overweight status, counseling template for weight loss goal-setting, linkage to referral options, and access to relevant patient handouts. Physicians randomized to the "usual care" arm will not receive access to these tools, and will continue to provide their usual care for overweight patients.

Usual care

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Electronic tool set for counseling overweight patients

Physicians randomized to the "electronic tools" arm will receive access to a tool set to aid with counseling of overweight patients. This tool set includes the following components: automatic calculation of BMI, alert for overweight status, counseling template for weight loss goal-setting, linkage to referral options, and access to relevant patient handouts. Physicians randomized to the "usual care" arm will not receive access to these tools, and will continue to provide their usual care for overweight patients.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Consenting physicians from the Northwestern Memorial General Internal Medicine (NMFF GIM) practice

• Adults ages 18-65 seen at the NMFF GIM who are patients of consenting physicians
• Have at least one appointment at the NMFF GIM clinic between 9/1/09-2/28/10
• Body mass index (BMI) 27-29.9 at one or more visits between 9/1/09-2/28/10

Exclusion Criteria

• Study investigators will be excluded from participation (Dr. David Baker, Dr. Joyce Tang)

• Patients without at least one recorded height measurement from any prior visit or without weight information from a visit within the 6 month target window will be excluded due to inability to calculate BMI.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Northwestern University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Northwestern University, Department of General Internal Medicine

Principal Investigators

Joyce W Tang, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Northwestern University, Department of General Internal Medicine

Locations

Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation General Internal Medicine Clinic

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

STU00013264

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id