Point-of-Care Follow-Up With Primary Care After Emergency Department Discharge

NCT ID: NCT02740348

Last Updated: 2017-08-08

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 220 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2015-11-30
• Study Completion Date: 2017-07-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of this trial is to determine whether setting up a follow-up appointment for patients who received treatment and were discharged from the emergency department increases their compliance with the follow-up appointment. We are enrolling patients who need a follow-up visit, have health insurance but report do not have a primary care doctor. Patients are randomized to one of three treatment groups: (1) assistance setting up a follow-up appointment by a research assistant using ZocDoc; (2) ZocDoc information given to the subject to set up follow-up appointment by him/herself; or (3) usual discharge instructions by ED staff. Subjects are phoned approximately 2 weeks after the ED visit and asked whether they completed a follow-up visit, satisfaction with their ED visit, satisfaction with their follow-up visit, and additional ED treatment and recovery.

Detailed Description

This is a randomized controlled trial involving adult emergency department (ED) patients who need a follow-up visit as defined by the ED provider (importance of follow-up rated as 5 or greater on a 0 to 10 scale). There is software available called ZocDoc that provides a user the ability to identify primary care providers who have open appointments and will take the person's health insurance (in network and outside of network) and list the doctors based on their proximity to the person in need. We are testing whether booking appointments for ED patients using ZocDoc vs. giving patients the information to use ZocDoc themselves vs. standard discharge instructions given by ED staff (i.e. you should follow-up with a primary care doctor) affects compliance with self-reported follow-up visits. We are enrolling patients while they are in the ED, completed a short baseline interview and then another interview with them over the telephone approximately two weeks after the index ED visit. The follow-up interview asks subjects whether they have completed a follow-up visit, satisfaction with the ED visit and the primary care visit, any other additional ED treatment and extent of recovery from the problem that brought them to the ED the first time.

Conditions

Conditions Influencing Health Status

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

ZocDoc Assistance

Research assistant sets up follow-up appointment for subject using ZocDoc.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

ZocDoc Assistance

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Research assistant sets up a follow-up appointment for a subject with a primary care doctor using ZocDoc

ZocDoc Information

Research assistance provides subject with written information about ZocDoc.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

ZocDoc Information

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Providing ZocDoc information to subjects so that they can make a follow-up appointment with a primary care doctor themselves

Usual Care

ED staff gives written and verbal discharge instructions to subject.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

ZocDoc Assistance

Research assistant sets up a follow-up appointment for a subject with a primary care doctor using ZocDoc

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

ZocDoc Information

Providing ZocDoc information to subjects so that they can make a follow-up appointment with a primary care doctor themselves

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

-

Exclusion Criteria

-

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 100 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

George Washington University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Melissa McCarthy

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Tina Choudri, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

George Washington University

Locations

George Washington University Hospital

Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States

Countries

United States

References

Doran KM, Colucci AC, Hessler RA, Ngai CK, Williams ND, Wallach AB, Tanner M, Allen MH, Goldfrank LR, Wall SP. An intervention connecting low-acuity emergency department patients with primary care: effect on future primary care linkage. Ann Emerg Med. 2013 Mar;61(3):312-321.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.10.021. Epub 2012 Dec 20.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 23261312 (View on PubMed)

Chan TC, Killeen JP, Castillo EM, Vilke GM, Guss DA, Feinberg R, Friedman L. Impact of an internet-based emergency department appointment system to access primary care at safety net community clinics. Ann Emerg Med. 2009 Aug;54(2):279-84. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.10.030. Epub 2008 Dec 13.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 19070939 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

091554

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id