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

Sponsor

University of Aarhus (Other)

Overall Status

Completed

CT.gov ID

NCT02295319

Collaborator

(none)

200

Enrollment

Location

Arms

Duration (Months)

16.7

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief 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.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Patient Discharge	Other: Individual discharge	N/A

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Actual Enrollment :

200 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Treatment

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

Study Start Date :

Nov 1, 2014

Actual Primary Completion Date :

Nov 1, 2015

Actual Study Completion Date :

Nov 1, 2015

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Individual discharge Discharge based on the patients individual needs and conditions. The discharge focus on information, communication, follow-up plans and collaboration, as well as the patients understanding and accept of the discharge plan. In addition, it includes a telephone interview 2 days after discharge to home.	Other: Individual discharge See previous description in "Arms"
No Intervention: Control Usual discharge procedures

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: Individual discharge

Discharge based on the patients individual needs and conditions. The discharge focus on information, communication, follow-up plans and collaboration, as well as the patients understanding and accept of the discharge plan. In addition, it includes a telephone interview 2 days after discharge to home.

Other: Individual discharge

See previous description in "Arms"

No Intervention: Control

Usual discharge procedures

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Readmissions [30 days]

Secondary Outcome Measures

Healthcare Service Utilization [30 days]
Quality of Life (EQ5D) [30 days]
Patients experience of the discharge process [7 days]

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years and Older

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

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

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	Aarhus University Hospital	Aarhus		Denmark	8000

Sponsors and Collaborators

University of Aarhus

Investigators

None specified.

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

Responsible Party:

University of Aarhus

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:

NCT02295319

Other Study ID Numbers:

Discharge AAU

First Posted:

Nov 20, 2014

Last Update Posted:

Dec 3, 2015

Last Verified:

Nov 1, 2014

Keywords provided by University of Aarhus

Discharge

Acute Admission Unit

Randomized Controlled Trial

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Dec 3, 2015