COordiNated CommuNication, Education, and Care Transitions After Acute Kidney Injury (CONNECT-AKI)- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether different ways of providing information and follow-up support after acute kidney injury, also called AKI, can improve care transitions for adults being discharged from the hospital. AKI is a sudden decrease in kidney function that can occur during a hospital stay.

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

* Does an AKI discharge summary template improve communication about AKI after hospital discharge?
* Does a chat-based educational messaging program improve patient understanding of AKI and support follow-up care after hospital discharge?
* Researchers will compare usual care, an AKI discharge summary template, a chat-based educational messaging program, and the combination of the discharge summary template plus chat-based messaging.

Researchers will compare four groups:

* Usual care
* An AKI discharge summary template
* A chat-based educational messaging program
* Both the AKI discharge summary template and the chat-based educational messaging program

Participants will complete questionnaires at the start of the study and about 4 weeks after hospital discharge. Participants will also receive a brief phone call about 3 months after discharge, and the research team will review their medical record for information about follow-up care, lab testing, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions.

Conditions

• Acute Kidney Injury
• Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

AKI Discharge Summary Template

The AKI discharge summary template provides structured AKI-related information for the hospital discharge summary, including information about the AKI episode and recommended follow-up care. The template is intended to improve communication during the transition from hospital to outpatient care.

BEHAVIORAL

Chat-Based Educational Messaging Program

The chat-based educational messaging program provides AKI-related educational messages after hospital discharge. Messages are delivered through a secure web-based chat-style interface and are designed to support patient understanding of AKI, post-discharge follow-up, and kidney-related care after hospitalization.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

  collaborator NIH

• Northwell Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jia Hwei Ng, MD, MSCE · Northwell Health

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-06-01

Primary Completion

2026-12-31

Completion

2027-10-30