Non-Interruptive Alerts for Improving Use of Clinical Decision Rules

November 16, 2023 updated by: Keaton Morgan, University of Utah

The Use of Non-Interruptive Alerts for Improving the Use of Clinical Decision Rules in the Emergency Department: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

This study is an extension of a planned quality improvement project that aims to promote standard of care by increasing the use of evidence-based clinical decision rules amongst emergency medicine providers in the University of Utah Emergency Department. Patient-specific information from the EHR will be used to recommend the use of relevant clinical decision rules to emergency medicine providers at the point-of-care. These recommendations will be in the form of non-interruptive alerts with one-click access to the suggested decision rules through the MDCalc Connect EHR add-on application. Specific aims of the study are to determine if 1) patient-specific non-interruptive alerts increase the use of clinical decision rules amongst emergency medicine providers and 2) an increase in the use of clinical decision rules affects provider ordering habits.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
70

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84112
        • University of Utah

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Patient Inclusion Criteria:

  • 16 years of age or older
  • Qualifying chief complaint*

Patient Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

    • A full list of the qualifying chief complaints is provided in Appendix A of the full research protocol.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Intervention Group
The intervention will contain two components: 1) a non-interruptive best practice advisory (BPA) in the Epic Storyboard and 2) a default suggested calculator tab in the MDCalc Connect app. Six clinical decision rules will be included: Canadian CT Head Rule, Canadian C-spine Rule, HEART Score, PERC Rule, Wells' PE Criteria and Wells' DVT Criteria. Predefined criteria based on chief complaint, patient age and vital signs will be used to determine when a decision rule may be relevant in a patient encounter. When a patient meets all of the predefined criteria, the intervention will be triggered.
Other: Clinical Decision Rule Alerts
The
No Intervention: Control Group
The control group will be usual care. Specifically, providers in the control group will not receive the clinical decision rule alert or the default suggested calculator tab in the MDCalc Connect app. The control group providers will have access to the MDCalc Connect app in its standard form and functionality.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total clinical decision rule usage
Time Frame: During the intervention
Composite measure of total number of clinical decision rules used through the MDCalc Connect app.
During the intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Individual clinical decision rule usage
Time Frame: During the intervention
Number of uses of individual clinical decision rules measured through the MDCalc Connect app.
During the intervention
Computed tomography pulmonary angiography studies
Time Frame: During the intervention
The total number of computed tomography pulmonary angiography studies ordered
During the intervention
Computed tomography head studies
Time Frame: During the intervention
The total number of computed tomography head without contrast studies ordered
During the intervention
Computed tomography c-spine studies
Time Frame: During the intervention
The total number of computed tomography c-spine without contrast studies ordered
During the intervention
Lower extremity ultrasound
Time Frame: During the intervention
The total number of lower extremity ultrasound studies ordered
During the intervention
d-dimer tests
Time Frame: During the intervention
Total number of d-dimer blood tests ordered
During the intervention
Delta troponin tests
Time Frame: During the intervention
Total number of times two or more troponin tests were ordered
During the intervention
Emergency department bounceback rate.
Time Frame: Up to 30 days after the intervention
30-day emergency department return visit (or "bounceback") rate
Up to 30 days after the intervention
Admission rate
Time Frame: During the intervention
Hospital admission rate
During the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Utah

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
February 18, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
November 18, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
November 4, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 4, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 6, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 8, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
November 20, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 16, 2023

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 00137874

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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