Effects of Writing Down the Request for Help on Patient Satisfaction in General Practices

Patient Satisfaction Clinical Trial

Official title:

Effects of Writing Down the Request for Help With Regard to Patient Satisfaction in General Practices

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01466140
• Other study ID #: EffectsPS1
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: October 21, 2011
• Last updated: November 4, 2011
• Start date: January 2011
• Est. completion date: May 2011

Study information

• Verified date: November 2011
• Source: Medical Research Foundation, The Netherlands
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Netherlands: The Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (CCMO)
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether exploring the request for help more thoroughly improves patient satisfaction in general practice (primary care).

Description:

Patient satisfaction has been an important topic of interest in primary health care during the last decade(s). Many factors during the consultation influence patient satisfaction. One of the aspects in a consultation is the request for help; especially in primary care the request for help has been recognised as an important aspect influencing patient satisfaction. The investigators hypothesized that exploring the request for help more thoroughly would improve patient satisfaction in general practice.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 209
• Est. completion date: May 2011
• Est. primary completion date: March 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• All patients with a new request for help.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Dementia

• Mental disability

• No or little knowledge of the Dutch language

• Illiteracy

• Limited vision

Study Design

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Doctor Satisfaction
• Duration of Consultation
• Patient Satisfaction

Intervention

Other:
• Writing down request for help
Patients in the intervention group could write down their request for help on a request card (with a maximum of 2 questions).

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Netherlands	Isala Clinics	Zwolle	Overijssel

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Nanne Kleefstra

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Netherlands, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Patient satisfaction measured with the Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire	The primary endpoint is the 'Professional Care' (PC) scale of the 'Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire' (CSQ). In a previous study the score on the PC were 88.2 en 80.9 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The standard deviations were 11.8 en 16.1. For our sample size calculation we used an expected standard deviation of 15. The sample size required to detect a difference of 7 on the PC scale between the intervention and control group, with a power of 90%, and alpha of 5% (two-tailed), and a standard deviation of 15, was 196 patients. We rounded this number off to 200.	15-30 minutes (after the consultation patients filled in the questionnaire)	No
Secondary	Patient satisfaction measured with the Visual Analog Scale	On a scale of 0-10 patients could fill in the Visual Analog Scale with regard to the patient satisfaction during the consultation	15-30 minutes (patients filled in the Visual Analog Scale after the consultation)	No
Secondary	Doctor satisfaction measured with the Visual Analog Scale	On a scale from 0-10 general practitioners could fill in the Visual Analog Scale with regard to their own satisfaction about the consultation	15-30 minutes (general pracitioners filled in the Visual Analog Scale after the consultation)	No
Secondary	Duration of the consultation	Duration of the consultation was compared between both groups	15-30 minutes (after the consultation the doctor measured the time with a stopwatch)	No