Pediatric Urology clinical trials

Photographic Email Correspondence for Pediatric Urology Post-Operative Patients

A pilot research study is planned to occur within the pediatric urology service the spring of 2015. All pediatric urology patients in the immediate post-operative period of 0-14 days will be eligible for this study. This study will compare the current standard of care for managing post-operative complications (a telephone conversation with the NP) versus an experimental intervention (telephone call and an electronic photograph of the surgical site). Before the surgical patient is discharged from the hospital, consent will be obtained for participation. Once a family initiates contact with the NP with a post-operative concern they will be randomized to either the control or the experimental group. Those in the control group will receive the current standard of care, which is telephone advice only. Those in the experimental group will speak to the NP on the telephone and will be requested to send an electronic photograph of their child's surgical site to the NP for assessment and advice. Photographs will be assessed using a standardized tool by both NPs and this information will be entered into a database. The investigators will be measuring the number of emergency department (ED) and/or unplanned clinic visits in both groups. An unplanned clinic visit is defined as a visit that is required due to an unexpected complication or concern before the original scheduled post-operative follow-up as determined by the surgeon. The investigators will be tracking the number of follow-up phone calls for both groups, as well as requiring participants to complete a family/patient experience survey after speaking to the NP.