The Impact of Individual-based Discharges From Acute Admission Units to Home

Patient Discharge Clinical Trial

Official title:

The Impact of Individual-based Discharges From Acute Admission Units to Home on Healthcare Utilization, Quality-of-life and Patient Experience: a Randomized Controlled Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02295319
• Other study ID #: Discharge AAU
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: November 12, 2014
• Last updated: December 1, 2015
• Start date: November 2014
• Est. completion date: November 2015

Study information

• Verified date: November 2014
• Source: University of Aarhus
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Denmark: The Danish National Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The present non-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigates the effect of a comprehensive discharge model in adult medical patients discharged directly home from an Acute Admission Unit (AAU). In addition, eligible patients should have, at least, one hospital admission 12 months prior to index hospitalization and be discharged for further follow-up by general practitioner, home care nursing or in an out-patient clinic. The model consists of 3 main steps during the short term stay in the AAU. First, patients are screened for pre-hospital conditions that might have contributed to the index hospitalization i.e. functional ability, ongoing treatment including drug treatment, need for additional assistance to maintain daily living, relatives, and use of e.g. hearing aid, glasses, walker. Second, at point of discharge there will be a thorough assessment of the discharge plan focusing on the patients' comprehension of the discharge plan as well as accept of the suggested treatment and follow-up. Third, within 2 days after discharge the patient will receive a discharge letter by email or postal mail written in plain language and repeating the information provided in the discharge summary to the general practitioner. Subsequently, the patient will receive a telephone follow-up from the research nurse addressing the content in the discharge letter and possible unresolved issues related to the index hospitalization. Patients in the control group receives the usual discharge practice in the AAU which does not include a discharge letter to the patient and telephone follow-up after discharge.

The primary endpoint is number of readmissions within 72 hours and 30 days after discharge. Secondary endpoints are healthcare service utilization within 30 days after discharge this includes number of contacts to general practitioner, out-of-hours physicians, emergency departments and if possible visits by home care nurses. Additionally, Quality-of-Life measured 30 days after discharge by the questionnaire EQ5D and Patient Experience of the discharge process is measured 7 days after discharge by a Danish national patient experience survey - serves as secondary endpoints.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 200
• Est. completion date: November 2015
• Est. primary completion date: November 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• medicine diagnosis

• discharged directly to home

• 1 admission during the last 12 months

• having a planned follow-up after discharge (general practitioner, home care nurse, out-patient clinic)

• read and understand Danish

Exclusion Criteria:

• demented, living outside the council of Aarhus, included in a rival study

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Patient Discharge

Intervention

Other:
• Individual discharge
See previous description in "Arms"

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Denmark	Aarhus University Hospital	Aarhus

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Aarhus

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Denmark, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Readmissions		30 days	No
Secondary	Healthcare Service Utilization		30 days	No
Secondary	Quality of Life (EQ5D)		30 days	No
Secondary	Patients experience of the discharge process		7 days	No