Clinical trial NCT04186351: Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHRSS) Encounter Notification Service Pilot Project
Official title: Efficacy of Providing an Automated Notification Service, the "Encounter Notification Service" Via the eHRSS for Home-based Care and Services Provided by Community Healthcare Providers for the Elderly: A 12-month Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Home-dwelling Elderly
Health Care Recipient
Keywords: automated notification service
community healthcare providers
randomized controlled trial
Lead sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Hospital Authority, Hong Kong
First posted: 2019-12-04
Enrollment: 864
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: This study evaluates the value of the automated notification service that allows more timely information access and sharing. A 12-month RCT will be conducted to determine the efficacy of the provision of the service to an elderly care and service provider in improving care and health outcomes of the elderly. Researchers will also examine whether the notification service will better support the carers for the coordination and prioritization of care and service delivery.

Detailed description: A research team at the University of Hong Kong is commissioned to conduct a study of the efficacy of providing an automated notification service, i.e., the "Encounter Notification Service," via the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHRSS) to an elderly caring and service provider that aims to facilitate more timely provision and coordination of healthcare services for home-dwelling elderly. With the access to the automated notification service containing up-to-date encounter information of the elderly in the eHRSS (e.g. discharge date from the public hospital, outpatient appointments), it is expected that the elderly caring and service provider can improve its allocation of resources and prioritize the provision of service to elderly patients who are in need, i.e., during the transition of care. As a result, the caring support and services provided by the elderly caring and service provider to the elderly can be more timely and effective, and an improvement in patient health outcomes can be expected.

To obtain evidence to determine the value of the automated notification service, a systematic study of the efficacy is suggested. Thus, researchers set out to conduct a 12-month randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine whether the provision of the automated notification service to the caring and service provider will result in improvements in care and health outcomes of the elderly. Also, researchers will assess whether the notification service will better support the carers for the coordination and prioritization of care and service provision and improve workflow and administrative procedures amongst different sectors.

In this pilot study, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA) is the participated elderly caring and service provider.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* are aged 18 years or older
* have registered in eHRSS as healthcare recipients and given consent for sharing their records in the eHRSS with the SCHSA
* are able to understand spoken Cantonese

Exclusion Criteria:

* with mental incapacity
* with hearing difficulties

Primary outcomes:
measure: changes in the number of Accident and Emergency (A&E) visits
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: changes in the number of non-attendance to outpatient appointments
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
measure: changes in the number of unplanned hospitalizations
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
measure: changes in the number of 30-day unplanned readmissions
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
measure: changes in the stability of health condition
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
measure: changes in the understanding of the arrangement of outpatient appointments
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
measure: changes in the elderly's perceptions of the services
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
Other outcomes:
measure: changes in the carers' perceptions of the impacts of the notification service
timeFrame: from baseline to 6 and 12 months
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: Senior Citizen Home Safety Association
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Hong Kong
name: Kalun Or, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sommers LS, Marton KI, Barbaccia JC, Randolph J. Physician, nurse, and social worker collaboration in primary care for chronically ill seniors. Arch Intern Med. 2000 Jun 26;160(12):1825-33. doi: 10.1001/archinte.160.12.1825.
citation: Mizrahi T, Abramson JS. Collaboration between social workers and physicians: perspectives on a shared case. Soc Work Health Care. 2000;31(3):1-24. doi: 10.1300/J010v31n03_01.
citation: Beck A, Scott J, Williams P, Robertson B, Jackson D, Gade G, Cowan P. A randomized trial of group outpatient visits for chronically ill older HMO members: the Cooperative Health Care Clinic. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1997 May;45(5):543-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1997.tb03085.x.
citation: Doig GS, Simpson F. Randomization and allocation concealment: a practical guide for researchers. J Crit Care. 2005 Jun;20(2):187-91; discussion 191-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2005.04.005.