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Targeted Letters to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Department Attendances

NCT02334189 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 25000

Last updated 2015-01-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The study aims to test whether it is possible to reduce pressure on Emergency Departments by sending a personal feedback letter to people who have recently attended an Emergency Department and whose health issues could likely have been dealt with elsewhere. These attendances clearly have many causes. However, it is likely that some attendances are due to behavioural factors - in other words, the various ways in which users interact with services. This study focuses on one particular behavioural factor: lack of feedback to users making avoidable visits.

The study will take place in collaboration with an NHS hospital trust. Each week during the trial, the hospital trust will identify those Emergency Department attendances in the last seven days which, according to clinical judgement, could have been dealt with elsewhere. Patients will then be randomly selected to receive a letter containing information on alternative healthcare options for non-emergency health concerns. Patient records will be analysed to determine whether the patients who received the letter are less likely to make an avoidable repeat visit to the Emergency Department in the future, compared with patients who received no letter.

Conditions

  • Avoidable Emergency Department Attendances

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Letter

Patients receive an information letter following an avoidable visit to the Emergency Department.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The Behavioural Insights Team

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Hannah Behrendt, MPhil, BA · Behavioural Insights Team

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2015-01-31
Primary Completion
2015-11-30
Completion
2015-11-30

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02334189 on ClinicalTrials.gov