Human Outreach to Improve Adherence With Scheduled Pain Clinic Appointments

Targeted Intervention (a Telephone Call in the Dominant Language) to Increase Attendance at Scheduled Appointment in an Inner City Academic Pain Clinic

Patients tend to miss their scheduled appointments in chronic pain clinics for unknown reasons. This study will test the hypothesis in a prospective pragmatic trial that a human telephone call in the primary language of the patient, promising a clinical encounter in this language improves attendance at scheduled appointments in an academic inner city pain clinic.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Patient Compliance
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Call

Detailed Description

Language barriers may lead to poor attendance at pain clinic appointments, especially in underserved patients. Targeted interventions can help overcome barriers and significantly improve adherence, but have rarely been rigorously investigated in randomized clinical trials. Our objective is to investigate if (1) making a telephone call in the patient's preferred language increases adherance with scheduled appointment in an inner city academic pain clinic or at least reduces failure to attend without a prior cancellation call and (2) if this intervention is more effective in Spanish speakers.

After institutional review board approval and waiver of informed consent, we enroll all adult patients (18 years and up) with a scheduled first appointment at our outpatient Pain Center at Montefiore Medical Center located in the Bronx, New York from October 2014 through October 2015. Participants are randomized to receive a phone call in their preferred language before their appointment, or not. We recorded if participants attended as scheduled and/or called to cancel. We fit stratified and multivariate multinomial logistic regression models.

In a methodologically rigorous randomized design, we seek to demonstrate that a human phone call in the patient's primary language increases adherence with scheduled appointments in an ethnically diverse, poor population, typical for an inner city pain clinic. Our targeted intervention may provide considerable cost savings to the institution while bolstering the patient-doctor relationship and overcoming barriers to access much needed care.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 1022

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Bronx, New York, United States, 10467
      • Montefiore Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Individuals who are 18 years of age and older that has a scheduled appointment at Montefiore Medical Center.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years of age or older
• have scheduled appointment at Montefiore Medical Center

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient attendance at scheduled pain clinic appointment	patient attends a scheduled appointment at a chronic pain clinic the day after the call or not, as ascertained from the clinic attendance sheet	1day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Montefiore Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: August 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 29, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 29, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): April 5, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 5, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 29, 2017
• Last Verified: March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: language; scheduled; appointment
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2014-3683

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES