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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12616000223437
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
15/02/2016
Date registered
18/02/2016
Date last updated
20/06/2017
Type of registration
Prospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Patient tolerance of medical scribes in the Emergency Department: a qualitative approach
Scientific title
A qualitative study of patient tolerance towards the presence of medical scribes during emergency consultations in a private hospital.
Secondary ID [1] 288544 0
None
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Any illness prompting a presentation to the Emergency Department 297647 0
Condition category
Condition code
Other 297837 297837 0 0
Research that is not of generic health relevance and not applicable to specific health categories listed above

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Observational
Patient registry
False
Target follow-up duration
Target follow-up type
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Participants will be approached after consulting a doctor with a medical scribe. They will be informed that medical scribes are a new concept and that we would like to know how patients respond to a scribe being present during their emergency consultation. Participants then have the opportunity to discuss their experience either in person or by phone at a time convenient to them. The semi-structured interview will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Intervention code [1] 293923 0
Not applicable
Comparator / control treatment
No control group.
Control group
Uncontrolled

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 297365 0
Theme saturation of topics discussed during the semi-structured interviews.
Timepoint [1] 297365 0
Data collection will be complete by mid-June.
Secondary outcome [1] 320826 0
None.
Timepoint [1] 320826 0
.

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
1. Recent emergency patients at Cabrini Private Hospital, Malvern
2. Primary care givers of recent emergency patients under 18 years of age
3. Primary care givers of recent emergency patients who are unable to attend due to disability. These primary care givers must have been present when the patient was consulted by a doctor with a scribe.
Minimum age
18 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
Yes
Key exclusion criteria
Deceased or critically ill
Those with difficulty communicating verbally in English

Study design
Purpose
Psychosocial
Duration
Cross-sectional
Selection
Defined population
Timing
Prospective
Statistical methods / analysis
Qualitative research:
Theme saturation is estimated after 6 to 8 interviews with each subgroup (patients, parents of patients and representatives of patients who are unable to communicate verbally).

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Completed
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
10/04/2016
Actual
10/04/2016
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
30/06/2016
Actual
21/06/2016
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
Actual
21/06/2016
Sample size
Target
20
Accrual to date
Final
7
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)
VIC
Recruitment hospital [1] 5280 0
Cabrini Hospital - Malvern - Malvern
Recruitment postcode(s) [1] 12737 0
3144 - Malvern

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 292893 0
Charities/Societies/Foundations
Name [1] 292893 0
Cabrini Foundation
Country [1] 292893 0
Australia
Funding source category [2] 292909 0
Charities/Societies/Foundations
Name [2] 292909 0
Equity Trustees
Country [2] 292909 0
Australia
Funding source category [3] 292910 0
Self funded/Unfunded
Name [3] 292910 0
William Dunlop
Country [3] 292910 0
Australia
Primary sponsor type
Hospital
Name
Cabrini Hospital
Address
181-183 Wattletree Rd, Malvern VIC 3144
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 291666 0
Charities/Societies/Foundations
Name [1] 291666 0
Cabrini Institute
Address [1] 291666 0
154 Wattletree Rd, Malvern VIC 3144
Country [1] 291666 0
Australia
Other collaborator category [1] 278837 0
Individual
Name [1] 278837 0
Professor Margaret Staples
Address [1] 278837 0
154 Wattletree Rd, Malvern VIC 3144
Country [1] 278837 0
Australia

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 294393 0
Cabrini Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics committee address [1] 294393 0
Patricia Peck Education and Research Precinct
154 Wattletree Road, Malvern VIC 3144
Ethics committee country [1] 294393 0
Australia
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 294393 0
19/02/2016
Approval date [1] 294393 0
07/04/2016
Ethics approval number [1] 294393 0
CHREC 03-02-05-16

Summary
Brief summary
Emergency doctors are required to complete a range of administrative tasks including typing medical notes, ordering imaging and blood tests, following up on results and corresponding with external departments. These administrative tasks do not require advanced clinical training and so the medical skillset of the emergency physicians is being underutilised. The Emergency Department also loses money due to under-billing patients when at the end of the patients’ attendance by forgetting to include some billable items (e.g. an ECG). A medical scribe completes administrative tasks for the emergency physician so that more time can be spent on medical tasks. The scribe is also responsible for completing billing requirements and can bill for events as they happen, reducing the likelihood of under-billing. While it is important to improve the efficiency of the Emergency Department, it cannot be done at the detriment of patient comfort. However, there is no research in Australian patients’ perceptions of having a non-medically qualified staff member present while being examined by an emergency physician. The current study aims to identify patients’ views and thoughts on medical scribes and uncover any problems that might arise from having additional staff in the room while a consultation takes place.
Trial website
Trial related presentations / publications
Publication:
Dunlop, W., Hegarty, L., Staples, M., Levinson, M., Ben-Meir, M. and Walker, K. (2017) Medical scribes have no impact on the patient experience of an emergency department. Emergency Medicine Australasia 10.1111/1742-6723.12818
Presentation:
Dunlop, W., Hegarty, L. (2016) Medical scribes have no detrimental effect on patient comfort or satisfaction during emergency consultations. ACEM Annual Scientific Meeting, Queenstown
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 63526 0
Mr William Dunlop
Address 63526 0
Emergency Department, Cabrini Hospital
181-183 Wattletree Rd, Malvern VIC 3144
Country 63526 0
Australia
Phone 63526 0
+61431096742
Fax 63526 0
Email 63526 0
[email protected]
Contact person for public queries
Name 63527 0
Katherine Walker
Address 63527 0
Emergency Department, Cabrini Hospital
181-183 Wattletree Rd, Malvern VIC 3144
Country 63527 0
Australia
Phone 63527 0
+61395081222
Fax 63527 0
Email 63527 0
[email protected]
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 63528 0
William Dunlop
Address 63528 0
Emergency Department, Cabrini Hospital
181-183 Wattletree Rd, Malvern VIC 3144
Country 63528 0
Australia
Phone 63528 0
+61431096742
Fax 63528 0
Email 63528 0
[email protected]

No information has been provided regarding IPD availability


What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided



Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.