EPICS-8: Reasons for Emergency Department Utilization by Patients With Non-urgent Conditions

Non-urgent Emergencies Clinical Trial

— EPICS-8  

Official title:

Emergency Processes in Clinical Structures - EPICS-8: Gründe für Die Inanspruchnahme Der Notaufnahme Durch Patienten Mit Blauer, grüner Oder Gelber Triagekategorie Und Ambulantem Behandlungsbedarf

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03036969
• Other study ID #: EPICS-8
• Status: Recruiting
• Start date: May 2016
• Est. completion date: June 2019

Study information

• Verified date: July 2018
• Source: Charite University, Berlin, Germany
• Contact: Martin Möckel, MD
• Email: martin.moeckel[@]charite.de
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

EPICS-8: Reasons for Emergency Department utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions:

Emergency Departments (EDs) are an important interface between primary and secondary health care sectors in Germany. The number of outpatient visits in the ED´s is still increasing. The reasons for ED utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions are nearly unknown in Germany and will be investigated in this project.

Description:

EPICS-8: Reasons for Emergency Department utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions:

Emergency Departments (EDs) are an important interface between primary and the secondary health care system in Germany. The number of outpatient visits in the ED´s is still increasing. The reasons for ED utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions are nearly unknown in Germany and will be explored in this project.

EPICS-8 is a pilot study to establish a research structure for the linkage of ED-data with data of the primary health care sector. Data linkage will be conducted for patients with the Manchester Triage System categories blue, green and yellow. A secondary aim of the EPICS-8 study is to develop a valid questionnaire for the assessment of reasons for ED utilization by non-urgent patients.

Primary objective:

Establishing of a research structure for the linkage of inhospital-data with data from the primary health care System. Records of 5,000 patients who attended one of the two EDs at the Charité University Medicine Berlin will be linked to Primary health care data.

Secondary objectives:

1. Development and testing of a questionaire for the identification of reasons for emergency department utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions (n=100)

2. Characterization and quantification of non-urgent emergencies

3. Explorative analysis of patient pathways and influencing factors for ED-visits with non-urgent conditions.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 5000
• Est. completion date: June 2019
• Est. primary completion date: December 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 115 Years

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for record linkage:

• Age>= 18 years

• Outpatients

• MTS-Triage category blue, green or yellow

• Treatment in one of the two participating EDs

Eligibility criteria for questionnaire pretest:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age>= 18 years

• Outpatients

• MTS-Triage category blue, green or yellow

• Treatment in one of the two participating EDs

• Eligibility to understand the study purposes and give written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Dementia

• no sufficient German language skills

• patients with legal representatives

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emergencies
• Non-urgent Emergencies

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	Charité Universitätsmedizin - Berlin	Berlin

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Charite University, Berlin, Germany	Zentralinstitut für die Kassenärztliche Versorgung in Deutschland

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Number of patients with linkable records	The Primary outcome will be the proportion of patients with successful record linkage.	05/2016 - 05/2018
Secondary	Valid Questionnaire	A patients questionnaire for the assessment of Emergency Department utilization by non-urgent patients will be developed. The outcome of this work package will be a valid patient questionnaire.	05/2016 - 05/2017
Secondary	Demographic characteristics of non-urgent ED patients	Descriptive analysis of demographic characteristics of ED patients with non-urgent conditions	During the study period
Secondary	Clinical characteristics of non-urgent ED patients	Descriptive analysis of clinical characteristics of ED patients with non-urgent conditions	During the study period
Secondary	Patient pathways for ED-Visits	Explorative analysis of patient pathways for ED-visits with non-urgent conditions	10/2017 - 05/2018
Secondary	Influencing factors for ED-Visits	Explorative analysis of influencing factors for ED-visits with non-urgent conditions	10/2017 - 05/2018