Drop in Gastroscopy - Experience After 9 Months

The capacity for endoscopical procedures in the Norwegian health system is low in comparison to demands from patients and family practitioners.

The studies aim is to evaluate the acceptance of a new concept: an open access gastroscopy clinic where patients can attend without a preceding appointment.

The investigators wish to evaluate:

  1. Patient´s satisfaction.
  2. General practitioner´s satisfaction.
  3. Acceptance by the staff of the clinic.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

The fact that access to specialized norwegian health care is characterized by a mismatch between system´s capacity and patient´s and refering physician´s demands, leads to delay of diagnostic investigations such as for example gastroscopies. Patients referred to gastroscopies have to wait 4 to 12 weeks to get an appointment. Consequence might be a delay in diagnosing of significant diseases such as ulcers or even malignancies. In addition the general practitioner is frequently forced to start a therapy by suspicion, and the patient has in numerable cases to stay off work.

In September 2008, the investigators started an open-access gastroscopy outpatient clinic, which allows the family practitioners in a defined area of the Telemark county to refer their patients to a gastroscopy without a preceding appointment. Patients from the other parts of the county and those, who need special service as i.e. interpreter, endocarditis prophylaxis etc. are referred conventionally and need an appointment.

Aim of the study is to evaluate the acceptance of both forms of outpatient clinics by both patients and general practitioners. In addition to that, the investigators will evaluate the acceptance of the open access clinic by the staff. Of special concern is the fear, that easier access might lead to a number of unnecessary procedures.

All patients from open access clinic and from the conventional clinic are asked to fill in a questionaire without any kind of personal identifying data such as name, age, date of the procedure etc., but with questions about their satisfaction with the procedure, the time from their first contact with their family practitioner to the procedure, the information prior and after the procedure. They will be asked if they did consume drugs against "ulcer-disease" or not.

In addition the referring practitioners are asked to fill in a questionnaire about their acceptance of the open access clinic, and to give the investigators some ideas about advantages and disadvantages from their point of view.

The staff is asked to give their experience especially according to the not calculable number of patients that attend to the clinic each day.

If the present study shows high acceptance of the open-access-offer by patients and health workers, the plan is to extend it to other patient groups and to perform studies to investigate the effects on the grade of diseases at the time of diagnosis and possible consequences for treatment and health economy.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

213

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

    • Telemark
      • Skien, Telemark, Norway, 3728
        • Department of Gastroenterology

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Current patients referred to our outpatient gastroscopy clinic

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • all patients from 18 years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • age < 18,
  • inability or unwillingness to cooperate.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Open access gastroscopy
Patients referred to open access gastroscopy
access to gastroscopy without preceding appointment
Conventional outpatient gastroscopy
Gastroscopy after preceding appointment
Gastroscopy after preceding appointment in a conventional outpatient clinic

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Patient´s satisfaction
Time Frame: Day of the Gastrocopy
Day of the Gastrocopy

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
General practitioner´satisfaction
Time Frame: One month after enrollment of patients
One month after enrollment of patients

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gert Huppertz-Hauss, MD, Telemark Hospital, Department of internal medicin, Skien, Norway

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

November 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 15, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 15, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

September 16, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 30, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 29, 2009

Last Verified

December 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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