ParentLink: Better and Safer Emergency Care for Children

April 5, 2007 updated by: Boston Children's Hospital
The emergency department (ED) constitutes a high-risk environment for errors and poor quality of care. Pediatric patients are at increased risk of medical errors. We postulate that implementation of a patient-centered health information technology - ParentLink - can address system-level deficiencies and the unique "just-in-time" information needs of ED physicians and the parents of ill children. The proposed work delivers an innovative product - an electronic interface linked to a pediatric knowledge base that integrates parent-derived data with best practices for safe and effective emergency care across common pediatric disease conditions: otitis media, urinary tract infections, asthma, and head trauma. The study has two aims, the first of which addresses critical gaps in data capture: to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of information on symptoms, disease condition, medications and allergies generated by parents using ParentLink versus information documented by ED physicians and nurses, using structured telephone interviews as a gold standard. The second aim measures the ParentLink's impact on ED patient safety and quality, specifically: a) the error rate for ordering and prescribing of medications during ED care, and b) the percent of ED visits that adhere to national evidence-based guidelines. Parentlink will be rigorously evaluated in a clinical trial at two diverse ED sites and will use a sequential, non-randomized observational design with two intervention and two control periods to measure the effects of ParentLink on data capture and safety and quality of patient care.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

3000

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
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
        • Children's Hospital Boston
      • Weymouth, Massachusetts, United States, 02190
        • South Shore Hospital

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

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 12 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age less than 12 years with head trauma
  • Age less than 12 years with ear pain
  • Ages less than 12 years with concern for UTI
  • 1 year - 12 years with asthma history and respiratory chief complaint
  • 3 months - 2 years with fever
  • Parent speaks English or Spanish
  • Triage status is non-emergent

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

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Boston Children's Hospital

Collaborators

South Shore Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Stephen C Porter, MD, Boston Children's Hospital

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

June 1, 2005

Study Completion

July 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 4, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 5, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

April 6, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 6, 2007

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 5, 2007

Last Verified

January 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CHB-R01HS014947

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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