Clinical trial NCT04344964: Endoscopy-related Phone Consultation During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Official title: Endoscopy-related Phone Consultation During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Impact on Attendance and Patient/Consultant Perspectives From a Tertiary Australian Hospital
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Colon Polyp
Colon Disease
Reflux, Gastroesophageal
Varices, Esophageal
Lead sponsor: Austin Health
Sponsor class: OTHER_GOV
First posted: 2020-04-14
Enrollment: 186
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients that have been submitted or were ordered any endoscopic procedure (e.g. capsule endoscopy, enteroscopy, endoscopic mucosal resection) within Austin Health - Victoria - Australia.

Brief summary: The aim of this study is to evaluate patient and consultant experiences with phone consultations for endoscopy-related outpatient appointments during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Detailed description: Telephone consultations as a method for telehealth do not provide visual cues and limit interpretation of visual signs such as visualization of skin lesions. However, the need of such feedback is almost non-existent for endoscopy-related consultations as their purpose is focused. The main foci of endoscopy-related outpatient clinics are two: 1 - inform and consent the patient for an endoscopic procedure that is to be done in the near future; 2 - explain the results of a recent procedure already performed and which has a copy provided to the patient. Therefore, phone consultations might be a good fit for endoscopy-related outpatient clinics. The practicalities and indications for the use of phone consults has been described by van Galen \& Car (2018) and fit the above description.

Patients will be invited to participate only after the consultation have been finalised and all questions regarding the endoscopic procedure to be done/that was done have been clarified. Patients and consultants will fill questionnaires to evaluate the phone consultation.

The primary outcome will the the comparison of "failed to attend" (FTA) occurrences compared to a similar period of the past year. Secondary outcomes will be patients' and consultants' satisfaction with the phone consultation.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients booked for an outpatient consultation in the Post-Endoscopy clinic or Advanced Endoscopy clinic
* Consultation determined to be held over the phone as per preventive measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak
* Age \> 18 years
* Ability to give informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Phone consultation done with a relative as per patient's preference or inability to talk over the phone
* Patient that is deemed as confused/not able to understand
* Unwilling/unable to participate in the post-consultation survey

Primary outcomes:
measure: Failed to attend patients
timeFrame: 2 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Patient satisfaction with the phone consult
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Consultant satisfaction with the phone consult
timeFrame: 2 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Melbourne
country: Australia
facility: Austin Health
state: Victoria
Study officials:
affiliation: Consultant Gastroenterologist
name: Sujievvan Chandran, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Barsom EZ, Jansen M, Tanis PJ, van de Ven AWH, Blusse van Oud-Alblas M, Buskens CJ, Bemelman WA, Schijven MP. Video consultation during follow up care: effect on quality of care and patient- and provider attitude in patients with colorectal cancer. Surg Endosc. 2021 Mar;35(3):1278-1287. doi: 10.1007/s00464-020-07499-3. Epub 2020 Mar 20.
citation: van Galen LS, Car J. Telephone consultations. BMJ. 2018 Mar 29;360:k1047. doi: 10.1136/bmj.k1047. No abstract available.