The Effects of Postoperative Physician Phone Calls for Hand and Wrist Fractures

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
This study seeks to determine if postoperative phone calls by a physician affect outcomes in hand surgery.

Detailed Description
-----------------
This study seeks to determine if postoperative phone calls by a physician affect outcomes in hand surgery. Patients who require operative treatment of hand and wrist fractures are randomly assigned to a group that receives a postoperative phone call or the control group that receives the standard postoperative care. Patient reported and medical outcomes are observed starting at 1 month postoperatively.

Official Title
-----------------
The Effects of Postoperative Physician Phone Calls for Hand and Wrist Fractures: a Single-blinded, Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial

Conditions
-----------------
Hand Injuries, Trauma, Hand Injuries and Disorders

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: Postoperative phone call


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: Patients with isolated injuries of the hand who present to a specific level 1 trauma center in the Midwestern United States Patients who have planned surgical treatment by a pre-specified group of surgeons Exclusion Criteria: Patients who have significant trauma to other organ systems proximal to the wrist Patients who have open (compound) fractures (i.e., bone is exposed) Children

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
No

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Participants are randomized to receiving a postoperative phone call or not receiving a postoperative phone call by a physician.
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Phone Call<br>Subjects in this study arm receive a post-operative phone call by a physician. | Behavioral: Postoperative phone call<br>* The intervention is a phone call on the day following surgery.<br>|
| No Intervention: No Phone call<br>Subjects in this study arm do not receive an additional post-operative phone call by a physician. | |

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Brief Michigan Hand Questionnaire Score Difference | A patient reported measure of hand function on a scale of 1 to 100. 100 indicates better hand function and 1 indicates worse hand function. The measure is obtained form a survey that has been published in multiple peer reviewed articles. This score can be subtracted from preoperative score to obtain a difference in score of preoperative compared to postoperative. | 1 month postoperatively. | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
Hand injuries, Hand trauma, Patient reported outcomes