Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) - Evaluation of a Novel Approach to Address Emergency Department Overcrowding

• Sponsor: University of Alberta (Other)
• Overall Status: Completed
• CT.gov ID: NCT00497393
• Collaborator: Capital Health, Canada (Other)
• Enrollment: 6,217
• Location: 1
• Arm: 1
• Duration (Months): 5
• Patients Per Site Per Month: 1236.8

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This randomized controlled trial will introduce a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) into the University of Alberta Hospital Emergency Department(ED)and assess the influence on ED length of stay, patients who leave without being seen, and other ED Overcrowding outcomes.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Acute Illness	Behavioral: Clinical Decision Unit	Phase 4

Detailed Description

The study will take place over a 6-week period that will be spilt into three-two-week blocks. Using computerized blocks of 2 weeks, days of the week will be randomly allocated so that each day of the week receives one intervention (CDU) and one control day for the study period. The CDU involves transforming an ED bed location to a 6-chair internal waiting room with 2 adjacent beds assigned to act as assessment and treatment locations. Patients will transition between the chair and stretcher to optimize the use of ED space.

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Actual Enrollment: 6217 participants
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)
• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Official Title: Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) - Evaluation of a Novel Approach to Address Emergency Department Overcrowding
• Study Start Date: Jul 1, 2007
• Actual Primary Completion Date: Aug 1, 2007
• Actual Study Completion Date: Dec 1, 2007

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
No Intervention: Control regular use of the 2-bed areas in the Emergency department	Behavioral: Clinical Decision Unit; a dedicated 2-bed area to see patients and then rotate them back into the waiting room area for labs and diagnostic imaging.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

1. Total ED length of stay [in the Emergency Department]

Secondary Outcome Measures

1. Left without being seen (LWBS) rates [in the Emergency Department]

2. nurse and physician satisfaction [following Emergency Department shift]

3. ambulance turnaround times (time [in the Emergency Department]

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 17 Years and Older
• Sexes Eligible for Study: All
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Inclusion Criteria:

• Only adult patients (>17 years of age) presenting to the University of Alberta Hospital Emergency Department (UAH ED), during the study interval will be included in the evaluation.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Direct admits/Pediatric patients.

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	University of Alberta Hospital	Edmonton	Alberta	Canada	T6G 2B7

Sponsors and Collaborators

• University of Alberta
• Capital Health, Canada

Investigators

• Principal Investigator: Michael Bullard, MD, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2B7, Canada

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00497393
• Other Study ID Numbers: B-130607
• First Posted: Jul 6, 2007
• Last Update Posted: Sep 12, 2008
• Last Verified: Sep 1, 2008

• Keywords provided by , ,: Emergency department, administration, overcrowding
• Additional relevant MeSH terms: Emergencies

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Sep 12, 2008