Self-assessment Triage in Inflammatory Arthritis

Inflammatory Arthritis Clinical Trial

Official title:

Self-assessment Triage in Inflammatory Arthritis

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04956380
• Other study ID #: 261-2017
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 31, 2017
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: July 2021
• Source: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

There are benefits to early, intensive treatment of IA. But getting to treatment depends on timeline and accurate case identification. The longest delays occur in persons self-identifying the need to see care for IA, recognition of these cases by primary care providers (PCPs), and appropriate, timely referral to rheumatology. Current methods of improving time to referral and consultation are effective, but costly and unsustainable, so there is need to look for alternatives. One solutions may be the use of patient self-administered tools.

In this study, we will test whether the use of validated, self-administered patient questionnaires (self-assessment) can advance the urgency rating of referrals for people with inflammatory arthritis (IA). If urgency ratings can be advanced then self-assessment may have the potential to reduce wait times to see a rheumatologist.

In Canada, one in every hundred people has IA and hundreds of new patients are diagnosed each year. Wait times to see a rheumatologist are long, so anything that has the potential to reduce these wait times would have a significant impact.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 207
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: October 31, 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• new patient referral

Exclusion Criteria:

• under 18 years of age

• confirmed diagnosis of inflammatory condition

• seen/managed by another rheumatologist within the last five years

• unable to speak English

• on disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.

• referrals from the Emergency Department

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Arthritis
• Inflammatory Arthritis

Intervention

Other:
• Self-administered Triage
Self-assessment including a self-administered patient joint count and a self-administered Early Inflammatory Arthritis Detection Tool

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	Dr. Raheem Kherani	Richmond	British Columbia
Canada	Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre	Toronto	Ontario

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre	University of British Columbia

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Urgency Rating	When a rheumatologist receives a new referral, he/she gives it an "urgency rating", which indicates how soon the patient needs to be seen based on information they have about the patient in the referral letter. Urgency rating has four levels: 1) urgent, schedule patient within 4 weeks, 2) urgent, schedule patient in 4 to 6 weeks, 3) urgent, schedule patient in 6 to 12 weeks, 4) non-urgent, schedule patient after 12 weeks. These were developed by the Canadian Rheumatology Association. Please note that these are NOT time points, but ratings used to describe how soon a patient should be seen.; Urgency rating will be recorded by the rheumatologist after three different cases: 1) After the rheumatologist receives the patient's referral letter, 2) after the patient arrives for their first appointment and completes a self-assessment in the waiting area, and 3) after the rheumatologist completes their first physical assessment of the patient.	1 Day