Clinical trial NCT04245020: A Study Comparing Three Methods of Outpatient Follow up After Surgical Admission; Text Message, Phone Call and In-person Appointment
Official title: An Open Label Randomised Control Trial Comparing Three Methods of Outpatient Follow up After Surgical Admission in Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown; Text Message, Phone Call and In-person Appointment
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Outpatients
Virtual Clinic
Text Messaging
General Surgery
Keywords: Randomised control trial
Virtual clinic
Text messaging
General surgery
Outpatients
Satisfaction
Telemedicine
Lead sponsor: Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-01-28
Enrollment: 208
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 16
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: This study compares three different methods of outpatient follow up after surgical admission to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. The three arms of the study are text message, telephone call or in-person outpatient follow up. Data will be collected to identify complications identified in each arm along with the rate of non-response to the follow up methods and the level of satisfaction with the method. Willingness to use a telemedicine app in the future will also be evaluated through satisfaction survey.

Detailed description: This is a non-blinded, single centre open randomised control trial of the outpatient follow up method following surgical admission to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.

All eligible patients will be randomised into three arms, text message, telephone or in-person follow up. The follow up will be carried out at 6-8 weeks following discharge. The rate of complications, the non-response rate and the level of satisfaction will be compared between the three groups.

Willingness to use a telemedicine app in the future in place of an in-person follow up will also be measured by patient satisfaction questionnaire.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Surgical patients admitted either as an emergency or for an elective procedure
* 16 years or older

Exclusion Criteria:

* Did not consent or cannot give consent
* Age less than 16
* No smartphone
* Further follow up required for treatment of further investigation
* Diagnosis or suspected diagnosis of malignancy

Primary outcomes:
measure: Complications that require further follow up
timeFrame: 6-8 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Satisfaction in follow up
timeFrame: 8-10 weeks
measure: Willingness to use a virtual clinic app in the future
timeFrame: 8-10 weeks
measure: Follow up preference
timeFrame: 8-10 weeks
measure: Lost to follow up
timeFrame: 6-8 weeks
measure: Further procedures arranged
timeFrame: 8-10 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Dublin 15
country: Ireland
facility: Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown
state: Co. Dublin
Study officials:
affiliation: Department of Surgery, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, Dublin 15
name: Paul M Cromwell, BM BS BA MRCS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Department of Surgery, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, Dublin 15
name: Thomas N Walsh, MD MCh FRCSI
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References: