Electronic Tools to Assist With Identification of and Counseling for Overweight Patients

July 26, 2011 updated by: Northwestern University
The purpose of this study is to design and assess the impact of an electronic alert and tool set to assist with physician identification and counseling of overweight patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Overweight adults (Body Mass Index [BMI] 25-29.9) are at high risk for developing obesity, but rates of physician identification and counseling of overweight adults are low. Alerts and tools embedded in the electronic medical record have shown promise in enhancing quality improvement efforts.

Our aim is to design and assess the impact of an electronic alert and tool set to assist with identification and counseling of overweight patients with a BMI 27-29.9. Although the category of overweight patients spans BMI 25-29.9, we are including only patients with BMI 27-29.9 in order to focus resources on the most at-risk pre-obese population.

We will develop a tool set including the following components: automatic calculation of BMI, alert for overweight status, counseling template for weight loss goal-setting, linkage to referral options, and access to relevant patient handouts. Physicians in the Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation General Internal Medicine (NMFF GIM) practice who consent to participate in the study will be randomized into two groups, with one group of physicians receiving access to these tools. The other group of physicians will continue to provide their usual care for overweight patients. Outcome measures will include the following: tool usage; documentation of overweight in the problem list, encounter diagnosis, or note text; counseling for overweight and documentation of specific behavioral goals. Measures will be obtained via retrospective chart review.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

2600

Phase

  • 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
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation General Internal Medicine Clinic

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

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria (physicians):

  • Consenting physicians from the Northwestern Memorial General Internal Medicine (NMFF GIM) practice

Exclusion Criteria (physicians):

  • Study investigators will be excluded from participation (Dr. David Baker, Dr. Joyce Tang)

Inclusion Criteria (patients):

  • Adults ages 18-65 seen at the NMFF GIM who are patients of consenting physicians
  • Have at least one appointment at the NMFF GIM clinic between 9/1/09-2/28/10
  • Body mass index (BMI) 27-29.9 at one or more visits between 9/1/09-2/28/10

Exclusion Criteria (patients):

  • Patients without at least one recorded height measurement from any prior visit or without weight information from a visit within the 6 month target window will be excluded due to inability to calculate BMI.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Usual care
Experimental: Electronic tools
Behavioral: Electronic tool set for counseling overweight patients
Physicians randomized to the "electronic tools" arm will receive access to a tool set to aid with counseling of overweight patients. This tool set includes the following components: automatic calculation of BMI, alert for overweight status, counseling template for weight loss goal-setting, linkage to referral options, and access to relevant patient handouts. Physicians randomized to the "usual care" arm will not receive access to these tools, and will continue to provide their usual care for overweight patients.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Documented diagnosis of overweight
Time Frame: September 1, 2009-February 28, 2010
September 1, 2009-February 28, 2010

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Documented counseling for overweight.
Time Frame: September 1, 2009-February 28, 2010
September 1, 2009-February 28, 2010
Documentation of specific behavior change goals
Time Frame: September 1, 2009-February 28, 2010
September 1, 2009-February 28, 2010

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Collaborators

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Joyce W Tang, MD, Northwestern University, Department of General Internal Medicine

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

March 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 8, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

September 9, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 27, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 26, 2011

Last Verified

July 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00013264

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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