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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12609000335291
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
13/05/2009
Date registered
22/05/2009
Date last updated
6/07/2012
Type of registration
Retrospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Discharge communication between hospitals and general practice – a comparison between fax, email, post and patient delivery.
Scientific title
Comparing receipt rates for hospital discharge communications sent to general practice by fax, email, post and patient delivery at one week following discharge for patients aged 60-100.
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
Closing the G@P
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Timeliness of hospital discharge communication 4837 0
Condition category
Condition code
Public Health 237179 237179 0 0
Health service research

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Transmission of electronic discharge summary for a total of 5 months in 2008, with summaries transmitted as they occur on a daily basis by:
1. email
2. post
3. patient hand delivery
Intervention code [1] 4616 0
Other interventions
Comparator / control treatment
Transmission of electronic discharge summary by fax for a total of 5 months, with summaries transmitted as they occur on a daily basis.
Control group
Active

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 237996 0
Receipt of discharge summary by general practice (whether it is received or not)
Timepoint [1] 237996 0
At one week following patient discharge from hospital.
Secondary outcome [1] 242128 0
none
Timepoint [1] 242128 0
none

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
All admissions to the acute aged care ward of the hospital between July and October 2008 were candidates for inclusion in the study.
Minimum age
60 Years
Maximum age
100 Years
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
No
Key exclusion criteria
Patients were ineligible if they were not admitted under a geriatrician or if they were transferred to another ward within the hospital prior to discharge.

Study design
Purpose of the study
Treatment
Allocation to intervention
Randomised controlled trial
Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Allocation was concealed using a computer generated computer generated, block randomization list. The investigators were blinded to the allocation process. Randomization was performed by the ward clerk, who referred to the computer generated, block randomization list in order to ensure even group sizes. A clearly visible laminated insert was attached to each patient’s file informing staff of their inclusion in the study and the allocated discharge communication method.
Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
During the study period, patients were randomly assigned on admission to one of four methods; email, fax, post or hand delivered by patient. Randomization was performed by the ward clerk, who referred to a computer generated, block randomization list in order to ensure even group sizes. The investigators were blinded to the allocation process.
Masking / blinding
Blinded (masking used)
Who is / are masked / blinded?



Intervention assignment
Parallel
Other design features
Phase
Not Applicable
Type of endpoint/s
Efficacy
Statistical methods / analysis

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Completed
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
1/07/2008
Actual
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
Actual
Sample size
Target
196
Accrual to date
Final
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 4994 0
University
Name [1] 4994 0
Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales
Country [1] 4994 0
Australia
Primary sponsor type
University
Name
Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales
Address
Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales
Sydney 2052
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 4466 0
None
Name [1] 4466 0
Address [1] 4466 0
Country [1] 4466 0

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 7096 0
St. Vincent's Hospital Sydney
Ethics committee address [1] 7096 0
Department of Geriatric Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital, Victoria St, Darlinghurst 2010, Australia
Ethics committee country [1] 7096 0
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 7096 0
Approval date [1] 7096 0
Ethics approval number [1] 7096 0

Summary
Brief summary
Timely and accurate discharge summaries play a critical role in the continuity of patient care between hospitals and primary care physicians or general practitioners in the community. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of delivering of computer-generated discharge summaries to general practice by email, fax, post and patient hand-delivery.
Trial website
Trial related presentations / publications
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 29593 0
Address 29593 0
Country 29593 0
Phone 29593 0
Fax 29593 0
Email 29593 0
Contact person for public queries
Name 12840 0
Dr. Nicholas Brennan
Address 12840 0
Department of Geriatric Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital, Victoria St, Darlinghurst 2010, Australia
Country 12840 0
Australia
Phone 12840 0
+61 2 8382 1111
Fax 12840 0
Email 12840 0
[email protected]
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 3768 0
Dr. Nicholas Brennan
Address 3768 0
Department of Geriatric Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital, Victoria St, Darlinghurst 2010, Australia
Country 3768 0
Australia
Phone 3768 0
+61 2 8382 1111
Fax 3768 0
Email 3768 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.