Impact of AI Care Summaries on Caregiver Comprehension

September 15, 2026 updated by: Kristen Elaine Johnson, Children's National Research Institute

Impact of AI Care Summaries on Caregiver Comprehension of Hospital Course

The primary objective is to assess if an AI-generated plain language summary of an inpatient progress note can improve caregiver understanding of their child's hospitalization by measuring differences in Hospital Course Comprehension scores, based on their responses to a survey regarding their child's hospital course.

Secondary objectives include exploring the caregiver's perspective on the use of AI in clinical care, as well as 7-day and 30-day readmission rates, 7-day and 30-day emergency department (ED) re-utilization rates, length of stay, and environmental impact measures.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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.

Detailed Description

This randomized controlled trial evaluates whether AI-generated plain-language summaries of inpatient progress notes improve caregiver understanding of a child's hospitalization. The intervention uses a Children's National HIPAA-compliant large language model hosted within the institution's Azure environment to generate caregiver-facing summaries from attending-signed inpatient progress notes.

Eligible caregivers are randomized to receive either standard hospital communication alone or standard communication plus an attending-approved AI-generated care summary. Before distribution to caregivers, attending physicians review generated summaries for clinical appropriateness and accuracy.

Caregiver understanding of the hospitalization is assessed using a structured survey administered during the hospitalization. Responses are compared with information documented in the medical record to evaluate comprehension. Additional exploratory analyses evaluate implementation outcomes, caregiver perceptions of AI-assisted communication, physician acceptance of generated summaries, healthcare utilization outcomes following hospitalization, and operational measures related to AI summary generation.

Statistical analyses will compare outcomes between randomized groups while controlling for relevant covariates when appropriate.

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 (Estimated)

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.
100

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 Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • District of Columbia
      • Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States, 20010
        • Recruiting
        • Children's National Hospital
        • Contact:
          • Kristen Johnson, MD, MS

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria: Caregiver of a patient 10 years and younger admitted to Children's National Hospital, whose preferred language is English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Caregivers of patients older than age 10 years
  • Caregivers of patients not admitted to the Hospital Medicine service
  • Caregivers of admitted patients whose preferred language is non-English
  • Patients whose care summaries are deemed inaccurate by their attending physician and not eligible for sharing with their caregiver.

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: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

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.
No Intervention: Standard Hospital Communication

Standard hospital communication
Experimental: Standard Hospital Communication Plus AI Care Summary

Attending-approved written AI Care Summary provided to caregiver
Other: AI Care Summary

Written AI-generated plain-language summary of the patient's hospital course, reviewed and approved by the attending physician and provided to the caregiver during the hospitalization.

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
Hospital Course Comprehension Score
Time Frame: Within 24 hours after receipt of the AI care summary or completion of standard care communication, during the index hospitalization

Percentage of caregiver survey responses that align with information documented in the medical record (range 0%-100%; higher scores indicate greater caregiver understanding of the hospital course).
Within 24 hours after receipt of the AI care summary or completion of standard care communication, during the index hospitalization

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
LOS
Time Frame: Throughout study duration, on average one year

Length of stay
Throughout study duration, on average one year
Readmission
Time Frame: During study duration, on average one year

7-day and 30-day readmission rates: readmissions within 7 or 30 days of the index hospitalization, when related to problems addressed during the initial hospitalization.
During study duration, on average one year
ED reutilization
Time Frame: 7 days after index hospital discharge and 30 days after index hospital discharge, respectively

7-day and 30-day ED re-utilization rates: return visits to the emergency department within 7 or 30 days for complaints related to the initial hospitalization.
7 days after index hospital discharge and 30 days after index hospital discharge, respectively
Tokens
Time Frame: WIthin 1 hour following generation of each AI care summary (during index hospitalization)

Token burden: the number of tokens used per AI-generated care summary.
WIthin 1 hour following generation of each AI care summary (during index hospitalization)
Energy usage
Time Frame: WIthin 1 hour of generation of the AI care summary (during index hospitalization)

Energy use: estimated average kilowatt-hour use per AI-generated summary.
WIthin 1 hour of generation of the AI care summary (during index hospitalization)
Acceptability: Physician
Time Frame: Within 1 hour of attending physician review of each AI-generated summary, prior to caregiver distribution, during index hospitalization

AI care summary rejection rate: the proportion of AI-generated summaries that attending physicians determine are not appropriate to share with caregivers.
Within 1 hour of attending physician review of each AI-generated summary, prior to caregiver distribution, during index hospitalization
Reason for Rejection
Time Frame: WIthin 1 hour of attending physician review of the AI care summary, during the index hospitalization

Reason for rejection: the primary reason an attending rejects a summary. One of five categorical options for rejection (contains sensitive information, contains factual errors, tone is not right, prefer not to provide written information, concerned may cause confusion); or category "other" with a free text response.
WIthin 1 hour of attending physician review of the AI care summary, during the index hospitalization
Caregiver-Rated Usefulness of AI Care Summary (5-Point Likert Scale)
Time Frame: Within 24 hours after receipt of the AI care summary, during the index hospitalization

Caregiver rating of how helpful the AI-generated care summary was for understanding the child's hospitalization, measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Not Helpful at All) to 5 (Extremely Helpful). Higher scores indicate greater perceived usefulness.
Within 24 hours after receipt of the AI care summary, during the index hospitalization
Engagement: Caregiver
Time Frame: Within 24 hours after receipt of the AI care summary, during the index hospitalization

Caregiver interest in AI summaries as standard care: whether caregivers would want this type of summary incorporated into routine care.
Within 24 hours after receipt of the AI care summary, during the index hospitalization

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.
Children's National Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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.
May 5, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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.
June 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

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.
June 30, 2027

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).
July 23, 2026

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.
September 15, 2026

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.
September 21, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

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.
September 21, 2026

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.
September 15, 2026

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.
September 1, 2026

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.
  • STUDY00001841

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Our IRB protocol does not permit IPD sharing for subject privacy

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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