Electronic Referral and Booking of Outpatient Day Case Surgery Compared With Traditional Referral Routines. - Full Text View

Purpose

We want in this study to investigate the cost-effectiveness and waiting time of direct electronic referral and booking of outpatient surgery compared to the traditional patient pathway where the patient is seen at the outpatient clinic prior to surgery.

Condition	Intervention
Referral and Consultation Telemedicine Surgery, Outpatient Surgery, Day Medical Records Systems, Computerized Health Services Research Health Care Surveys	Behavioral: one stop (Electronic standardised referrals and appointment bookings)

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Allocation: Randomized Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment Masking: Open Label Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Official Title:	Costs-effectiveness and Waiting Time for Direct Electronic Referral and Booking of Outpatient Day Case Surgery Compared With Traditional Referral Routines. A Randomised Controlled Trial

Further study details as provided by University Hospital of North Norway:

Primary Outcome Measures:

waiting time [ Time Frame: one year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:

cost effectiveness [ Time Frame: one year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Estimated Enrollment:	120
Study Start Date:	October 2010
Estimated Study Completion Date:	December 2012
Estimated Primary Completion Date:	June 2012 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
Active Comparator: 1 The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.	Behavioral: one stop (Electronic standardised referrals and appointment bookings) The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.
No Intervention: 2 Patients in the control group are randomised to use the regular patient pathway prior to day case outpatient surgery. All these patients are referred to the surgical outpatient clinic. At the outpatient clinic patients are examined by a surgeon and indications for surgery is decided by the surgeon. If indicated, patients are then referred to outpatient surgery and the surgical procedure is performed several weeks after the examination.	Behavioral: one stop (Electronic standardised referrals and appointment bookings) The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.

Arms

Assigned Interventions

Active Comparator: 1

The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.

Behavioral: one stop (Electronic standardised referrals and appointment bookings)

The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.

No Intervention: 2

Patients in the control group are randomised to use the regular patient pathway prior to day case outpatient surgery. All these patients are referred to the surgical outpatient clinic. At the outpatient clinic patients are examined by a surgeon and indications for surgery is decided by the surgeon. If indicated, patients are then referred to outpatient surgery and the surgical procedure is performed several weeks after the examination.

Behavioral: one stop (Electronic standardised referrals and appointment bookings)

The one stop strategy is a set of interventions directed at GPs referring to the University Hospital. The interventions include: Guidelines for referral, standardised electronic referrals, booking for outpatient surgery and a patient information form.

Detailed Description:

Waiting time from referral to day case outpatient surgery is unacceptable long. In Norway it is as much as 48 weeks for common conditions like gallstones, inguinal hernia and sinus pilonidalis. Electronic standardised referrals sent by the Norwegian Healthcare Network, and booking of surgery by the general practitioner might be a way to reduce the waiting time and increase the cost effectiveness of outpatient surgery.

The trial is designated as a randomized controlled trial were selected patients (inguinal hernia, gall stone disease and sinus pilonoidalis) referred to the university hospital, were either randomized to direct electronic referral and booking for outpatient surgery (one stop), or using the traditional patient pathway where all patients are seen at the outpatient clinic several weeks before surgery.

Eligibility

Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients were eligible if they were diagnosed by their GP for an inguinal hernia, sinus pilonidalis or gallstone disease which require surgical treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients with medical conditions making them unfit for outpatient surgery admitted to the surgical department prior to surgery are not eligible

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00692497

Contacts

Contact: Knut M Augestad, MD	0047-97499442	knut.magne.augestad@telemed.no
Contact: Rolv-Ole Lindsetmo, MD	0047-77620000	rolv.ole.lindsetmo@unn.no

Locations

Norway
Norwegian Centre of Telemedicine	Recruiting
Tromsø, Norway
Contact: Knut M Augestad, MD 004797499442 knut.magne.augestad@telemed.no
Principal Investigator: Knut M Augestad, MD

Sponsors and Collaborators

University Hospital of North Norway

Investigators

Principal Investigator:	Rolv-Ole Lindsetmo, MD, PhD	University of Tromso
Study Chair:	Roar Johnsen, MD, PhD, Prof.	University of North Norway
Study Director:	Knut M Augestad, MD	Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine and Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, University Hospital of North Norway, Norway

More Information

No publications provided by University Hospital of North Norway

Additional publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):

Augestad KM, Revhaug A, Vonen B, Johnsen R, Lindsetmo RO. The one-stop trial: does electronic referral and booking by the general practitioner (GPs) to outpatient day case surgery reduce waiting time and costs? A randomized controlled trial protocol. BMC Surg. 2008 Aug 11;8:14.

Responsible Party:	University Hospital of North Norway
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00692497 History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers:	P REK NORD 122/2006
Study First Received:	June 4, 2008
Last Updated:	November 16, 2011
Health Authority:	Norway:National Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics Norway: Norwegian Social Science Data Services Norway: Directorate of Health

Keywords provided by University Hospital of North Norway:

One-Stop
Public Health Research
Delivery of Health Care/*standards
Evaluation Studies

Referral
Surgery, Outpatient
Surgery, Day
Telemedicine

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on June 13, 2013

Electronic Referral and Booking of Outpatient Day Case Surgery Compared With Traditional Referral Routines. (one-stop)