A Multi-Site Feasibility Trial of Embedded Emergency Department Physical Therapy for Dizziness

NCT07225023 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 100

Last updated 2026-04-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This is a multi-site feasibility trial of an embedded emergency department (ED) physical therapy care model for dizziness at two EDs in the Northwestern Medicine and University of Utah Health systems. The study intervention (embedded ED physical therapy) is a reconceptualization of the traditional outpatient physical therapy care model in which we place a physical therapist directly in the ED to initiate timely care for patients with dizziness; we previously evaluated this intervention in a single center randomized trial for low back pain. This multi-site feasibility trial will be comprised of 9 months of active intervention and 12 months of longitudinal data collection. The two sites will be parallel randomized 1:1 to receive either the embedded ED physical therapy condition (intervention, n=1) or usual care (control, n=1) via simple randomization. This trial focuses on feasibility outcomes - such as our ability to enroll participants, deliver the intervention with fidelity, and collect longitudinal patient-reported outcome data and electronic health record data.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

Embedded Emergency Department Physical Therapy

We place a physical therapist directly in the emergency department to initiate timely care for patients with dizziness rather than waiting on an outpatient referral to physical therapy, which can often take weeks to accomplish, if ever at all. The actual techniques and approaches used by the embedded ED physical therapist in this study (e.g., exercises, maneuvers, coaching) are standard-of-care and do not involve investigational interventions, devices, or drugs.

OTHER

Usual Care

Standard-of-care treatment for dizziness presenting in the emergency department

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Utah

    collaborator OTHER
  • Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital

    collaborator OTHER
  • Northwestern Memorial Hospital

    collaborator OTHER
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

    collaborator NIH
  • Northwestern University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-04-01
Primary Completion
2027-07-01
Completion
2028-04-01

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

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 NCT07225023 on ClinicalTrials.gov