Unnecessary, Avoidable Lengths of Stay: a Strategy for Clinician Empowerment and Effectiveness Evaluation

NCT ID: NCT01422811

Last Updated: 2018-07-03

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

PHASE3

Total Enrollment

3862 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2008-02-29

Study Completion Date

2010-02-28

Brief Summary

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1. Background: In recent years an increasing trend in excessive lengths of stay has been recorded at the Parma University Hospital, compared with regional mean values. Excessive lengths of stay have been demonstrated to constitute not just an economic problem, but also a clinical and public health issue. Since the measures taken at our institution so far have not proven effective, the investigators carried out a literature review, which mostly detected observational studies, restricted to the assessment of the impact of a single intervention.
2. Objectives: This project intends to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted strategy aiming to empower clinicians on the issues associated with excessively long and avoidable hospital stays, and enable them to identify corrective measures (according to the principles of clinical governance).
3. Study design: cluster-randomized, parallel group, open-label, community trial
4. Methods: trained personnel will periodically record causes for excessive lengths of stay in all participating wards using an ad hoc data collection sheet. In the wards randomized to the experimental group, interventions aimed to clinician empowerment - provision of reminders and periodical audits - will be implemented.
5. Expected results: A reduction in the experimental vs. the control arm unnecessary lengths of stay is expected, although the introduced measures will also presumably lead to improvement in the wards where they are not implemented.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Hospitalization Length of Stay

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Intervention

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Multicomponent strategy to reduce avoidable length of stay

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The strategy comprises two integrated components:

1. Distribution of two monthly reports, one consisting in the list of patients who, through data collection performed, are classified to be present on the ward although their clinical status is considered compatible with discharge; the other featuring individual length of stay profiles for each physician operating in the intervention arm (information taken from administrative data), allowing comparisons with the rest of the medical staff;
2. Audits performed by professionals of each ward of the intervention arm designed to discuss cases judged to be compatible with discharge. The organization of this work are left to the wards, without any interference from the project team.

Control

No Intervention

Group Type OTHER

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

No interventions (reporting, auditing) are planned; nevertheless control ward physicians know study aims and are informed about their patient's data collection.

Interventions

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Multicomponent strategy to reduce avoidable length of stay

The strategy comprises two integrated components:

1. Distribution of two monthly reports, one consisting in the list of patients who, through data collection performed, are classified to be present on the ward although their clinical status is considered compatible with discharge; the other featuring individual length of stay profiles for each physician operating in the intervention arm (information taken from administrative data), allowing comparisons with the rest of the medical staff;
2. Audits performed by professionals of each ward of the intervention arm designed to discuss cases judged to be compatible with discharge. The organization of this work are left to the wards, without any interference from the project team.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

No intervention

No interventions (reporting, auditing) are planned; nevertheless control ward physicians know study aims and are informed about their patient's data collection.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* patients present on the participating wards during one of 12 randomly selected index days (one for each month of data collection)

Exclusion Criteria

* patients admitted or discharged on the index days
* patients with length of stay (interview date - admission date) \> 90 days
Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Regione Emilia-Romagna

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Caterina Caminiti

Dr.

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Caterina Caminiti

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma

Locations

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Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma

Parma, , Italy

Site Status

Countries

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Italy

References

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Carey MR, Sheth H, Braithwaite RS. A prospective study of reasons for prolonged hospitalizations on a general medicine teaching service. J Gen Intern Med. 2005 Feb;20(2):108-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.40269.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15836542 (View on PubMed)

Lagoe RJ, Westert GP, Kendrick K, Morreale G, Mnich S. Managing hospital length of stay reduction: a multihospital approach. Health Care Manage Rev. 2005 Apr-Jun;30(2):82-92. doi: 10.1097/00004010-200504000-00002.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15923910 (View on PubMed)

Moro ML. Health care-associated infections. Surg Infect (Larchmt). 2006;7 Suppl 2:S21-3. doi: 10.1089/sur.2006.7.s2-21.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16895497 (View on PubMed)

Selker HP, Beshansky JR, Pauker SG, Kassirer JP. The epidemiology of delays in a teaching hospital. The development and use of a tool that detects unnecessary hospital days. Med Care. 1989 Feb;27(2):112-29. doi: 10.1097/00005650-198902000-00003.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 2918764 (View on PubMed)

Setrakian JC, Flegel KM, Hutchinson TA, Charest S, Cote L, Edwardes MD, Corbett IB. A physician-centred intervention to shorten hospital stay: a pilot study. CMAJ. 1999 Jun 15;160(12):1735-7.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10410639 (View on PubMed)

Shojania KG, Wald H, Gross R. Understanding medical error and improving patient safety in the inpatient setting. Med Clin North Am. 2002 Jul;86(4):847-67. doi: 10.1016/s0025-7125(02)00016-0.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 12365343 (View on PubMed)

Meschi T, Fiaccadori E, Cocconi S, Adorni G, Ridolo E, Stefani N, Schianchi T, Novarini A, Spagnoli G, Caminiti C, Pini M, Borghi L. [Analysis of the problem of "difficult hospital discharges" in the University Hospital of Parma]. Ann Ital Med Int. 2004 Apr-Jun;19(2):109-17. Italian.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15317271 (View on PubMed)

Caminiti C, Meschi T, Braglia L, Diodati F, Iezzi E, Marcomini B, Nouvenne A, Palermo E, Prati B, Schianchi T, Borghi L. Reducing unnecessary hospital days to improve quality of care through physician accountability: a cluster randomised trial. BMC Health Serv Res. 2013 Jan 10;13:14. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-14.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 23305251 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

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http://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/

Study sponsor's website \[ita\]

Other Identifiers

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aopr-rct-los

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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