Electronic Referral and Booking of Outpatient Day Case Surgery Compared With Traditional Referral Routines.

Telemedicine Clinical Trial

— one-stop  

Official title:

Costs-effectiveness and Waiting Time for Direct Electronic Referral and Booking of Outpatient Day Case Surgery Compared With Traditional Referral Routines. A Randomised Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00692497
• Other study ID #: P REK NORD 122/2006
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: June 4, 2008
• Last updated: January 26, 2016
• Start date: October 2010
• Est. completion date: December 2012

Study information

• Verified date: January 2016
• Source: University Hospital of North Norway
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Norway:National Committee for Medical and Health Research EthicsNorway: Norwegian Social Science Data ServicesNorway: Directorate of Health
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

We want in this study to investigate the cost-effectiveness and waiting time of direct electronic referral and booking of outpatient surgery compared to the traditional patient pathway where the patient is seen at the outpatient clinic prior to surgery.

Description:

Waiting time from referral to day case outpatient surgery is unacceptable long. In Norway it is as much as 48 weeks for common conditions like gallstones, inguinal hernia and sinus pilonidalis. Electronic standardised referrals sent by the Norwegian Healthcare Network, and booking of surgery by the general practitioner might be a way to reduce the waiting time and increase the cost effectiveness of outpatient surgery.

The trial is designated as a randomized controlled trial were selected patients (inguinal hernia, gall stone disease and sinus pilonoidalis) referred to the university hospital, were either randomized to direct electronic referral and booking for outpatient surgery (one stop), or using the traditional patient pathway where all patients are seen at the outpatient clinic several weeks before surgery.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 120
• Est. completion date: December 2012
• Est. primary completion date: June 2012
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients were eligible if they were diagnosed by their GP for an inguinal hernia, sinus pilonidalis or gallstone disease which require surgical treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with medical conditions making them unfit for outpatient surgery admitted to the surgical department prior to surgery are not eligible

Study Design

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Care Surveys
• Health Services Research
• Medical Records Systems, Computerized
• Referral and Consultation
• Surgery, Day
• Surgery, Outpatient
• Telemedicine

Intervention

Behavioral:
• one stop (Electronic standardised referrals and appointment bookings)
The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Norway	Norwegian Centre of Telemedicine	Tromsø

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University Hospital of North Norway

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Norway, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	waiting time		one year	No
Secondary	cost effectiveness		one year	No

External Links

•   A short public description of the project (in norwegian)