Acute Admission to Hallingdal Sjukestugu

Morbidity Clinical Trial

Official title:

Acute Admission to Hallingdal Sjukestugu. Can Acute Admissions to a Community Hospital be a Realistic Alternative to General Hospital Admissions?

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01069107
• Other study ID #: 09-1300 REK
• Secondary ID: 20100101
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: February 4, 2010
• Last updated: February 17, 2016
• Start date: April 2010
• Est. completion date: September 2015

Study information

• Verified date: February 2016
• Source: Helse Sor-Ost
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Norway:National Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The main objective of the project is to assess whether a community hospital may have or should have a role in the Norwegian health care system in the acute treatment of a defined group of patients.

Description:

The research project's objective is to analyze whether acute admissions to Hallingdal sjukestugu (HSS) is a real alternative to hospitalization in a general hospital.

HSS is a community hospital and a department under Ringerike General Hospital (RS) and is located in Hallingdal 170 km from the RS. It is an established practice that the general practitioners in Hallingdal send selected patients in need for acute treatment to HSS in place of RS. In 2008 this accounted for 10.1% of the total number of acute inpatients from the six municipalities of Hallingdal.

The research program includes a prospective, randomized study in which all patients intended for acute inpatient at HSS are distributed randomly into two groups, an intervention group who is admitted to HSS, and a control group who is sent to RS. A minimum of 70 patients are included in each group.

The patients are going to be followed through one year after the hospital stay and all contacts with the specialist health services and the municipal health care services will be registered. There will also be collected data on the patients' functioning level and the patients' opinion about quality of the hospital stay. Through standardized questionnaire the involved health professional will be asked about their reviews.

Three studies will analyze the patients' progress, economics and quality in the two groups. The three studies will together constitute a doctoral thesis.

The research project will provide a better basis for assessing the role of local medical centers in the Norwegian health care in the acute treatment of a defined group of patients.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 140
• Est. completion date: September 2015
• Est. primary completion date: April 2013
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients who by the general practitioner are intended for acute admission to HSS and where the specialist on call at RS approves such admissions.

• Patients residing in Hallingdal municipalities.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with injuries and acute and/or unclear illnesses in need of diagnosis, treatment or monitoring in an acute hospital.

• Urgent births at HSS.

• Acute psychiatric admissions to hospital.

• Patients with serious mental disorders.

• Patients who during the follow-up year move to a municipality outside of Hallingdal.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Economy
• Morbidity
• Quality

Intervention

Other:
• Cottage Hospital Care
Care at a cottage hospital compared with care at a general hospital

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Norway	Hallingdal sjukestugu	Ål	Buskerud

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Helse Sor-Ost	Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Ringerike sykehus, Vestre Viken HF, University of Oslo

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Norway, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	A triangulation of patient health consequences, patients' perceived quality and a health economy analyses.		One year	No
Secondary	All contacts with the specialist health services and the municipal health care services will be registered.		One year	No