Discharge Planning for Elderly Patients in the Emergency Department: Use of a Brief Phone Call After Discharge to Improve Medication Utilization and Physician Follow-up

Patient Discharge Clinical Trial

Official title: Discharge Planning for Elderly Patients in the Emergency Department: Use of a Brief Phone Call After Discharge to Improve Medication Utilization and Physician Follow-up

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators hypothesize that the acquisition and correct utilization of medications as well as arranging and attending follow-up appointments will improve as a result of a phone call intervention 1-3 days after elderly patients are discharged from the emergency department (ED).

Clinical Trial Description

Older patients seen in the ED are at high risk of functional decline and return visits to the ED. Previous studies have shown that a comprehensive assessment by a geriatric specialist at the time of discharge from the ED along with extensive integration with home services and/or referral to community services can decrease functional decline and return visits to the ED as well as increase patient satisfaction, but this intervention is resource intensive requiring a geriatric discharge specialist to be available to the emergency department 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. It is also known that in other patient populations telephone reminders to make follow up appointments can increase rate of follow up and that comprehension of discharge instructions is the primary barrier to compliance with discharge instructions. It has been shown that telephone follow-up interviews are feasible for geriatric patients discharged from the ED, and that many elderly patients discharged from the ED do not understand their discharge instructions or attend follow-up appointments. However, there are no published studies evaluating whether a follow up telephone call after discharge from the ED can improve patient compliance with the medical treatment plan including obtaining follow - up appointments and obtaining prescribed medications as well as using them appropriately. We seek to determine if we can increase compliance with medications and outpatient follow up with a phone call from a nurse provider 1-3 days after discharge. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emergencies
• Patient Discharge

• NCT number: NCT01207180
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 2010
• Completion date: November 2010