Expansion of Abbreviations and Acronyms for Patients

NCT ID: NCT05297942

Last Updated: 2022-06-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 60 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-02-01
• Study Completion Date: 2021-08-31

Brief Summary

This is a prospective, two-arm, parallel, individually randomized controlled trial to estimate the effect of expansion on patient comprehension (primary outcome) of abbreviations and acronyms in their health records. English-speaking adult patients with diagnosed heart failure who receive primary care at three urban hospitals in New York City will be considered. The investigators hypothesize that expansion will significantly increase patient comprehension of abbreviations and acronyms in the health record.

Detailed Description

Importance: In 2020, an estimated 100 million Americans accessed their own health records online. That number likely increased beginning April 2021, when U.S. federal rules implemented the 21st Century Cures Act requiring electronic health information to be made freely accessible. Medical abbreviations and acronyms may limit patient understanding of health records. Automated expansion is one potential solution, however, the magnitude of its effect on patient comprehension has not been estimated.

Objective: To estimate the effect of expansion on patient comprehension of abbreviations and acronyms in their health records.

Design: Prospective, two-arm, parallel, individually randomized controlled trial.

Participants: Patients who receive primary care at one of three urban hospitals. A purposive sample representative on age, gender, and race will be enrolled between February 2020 and August 2021. To isolate the main effect, the investigators will include only English-speaking adult patients with diagnosed heart failure.

Intervention: Participants will be randomized to receive clinical text with abbreviations (control group, n=30) or with expansions (intervention group, n=30). The abbreviations and expansions included "hrs" (hours), "MD" (medical doctor), "BP" (blood pressure), "ED" (emergency department), "yo" (year old), "pt" (patient), "HF" (heart failure), "hx" (history), "HTN" (hypertension), "MI" (myocardial infarction).

Conditions

Heart Failure

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Intervention (Expansion) Arm

Expansion of abbreviations and acronyms

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Expansion of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Intervention Type: OTHER

Expansion of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Control (Abbreviation) Arm

No expansion of abbreviations and acronyms

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Expansion of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Expansion of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Adult (21 years or older)
• Confirmed diagnosis of heart failure
• Able to read and speak English
• Willing and able to provide informed consent
• Receives primary care from participating provider

Exclusion Criteria

• Healthcare professional (MD, DO, RN, etc.)
• No telephone number or email address
• Severe cognitive impairment or clinical diagnosis of dementia
• Major psychiatric illness, including active psychosis
• Other illness that would preclude participation

• Minimum Eligible Age: 21 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Columbia University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Ruth M Masterson Creber, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Locations

Weill Cornell Medicine

New York, New York, United States

Countries

United States

References

Grossman Liu L, Russell D, Reading Turchioe M, Myers AC, Vawdrey DK, Masterson Creber RM. Effect of Expansion of Abbreviations and Acronyms on Patient Comprehension of Their Health Records: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 May 2;5(5):e2212320. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.12320.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 35560053 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

1804019182

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id