Optimising Consultation Summaries to Promote Good Health (ONSET)

Optimising Consultation Summaries to Promote Good Health/Views of Adolescents Attending Diabetes Clinic

Patient participation in decision making about their care promotes patient satisfaction and confidence. Further more, allowing patients to see letters written about them enables trust, encourages patients to be involved in decision making process and allow patient understanding.

Little is known about how young people value these letters in the same way. Only one brief questionnaire study focused on adolescent views and found that young people wished to receive consultation summaries.

This research aims explore the views of adolescent patients related to consultation summaries that they receive following a doctor's appointment. The investigator will use patients attending a specialist diabetes clinic as our cohort and conduct a qualitative study using focus groups.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Type1 Diabetes
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Interview-Questionnaire

Detailed Description

Patient participation in decision making processes about their care promotes patient satisfaction and confidence. As part of this, allowing patients to see letters written about them enables trust, encourages patients to be involved in decision making process and allow patient understanding. Given this, the 2000 NHS plan made it a requirement that all medical correspondence between health professionals is shared with patients.

It is estimated that 40-80% of information discussed during a consultation is forgotten immediately. Written summaries have shown to be an effective method of improving patient recall of information by 20.8%.

The literature on the benefits/disadvantages of consultation summaries is largely focused on adult patients with little research done to explore the views of adolescent population. Where the patient is a child, the literature is only focussed on parents of children and not the children themselves. Limited research has shown that parents/care givers report clinic letters being useful in assisting with better understanding and management of their child's condition.

Little is known about how young people value these letters in the same way. Only one brief questionnaire study focused on adolescent views and found that young people wished to receive consultation summaries.

Adolescence is an important time of an individual's life. This is the time when many independent health behaviours are established. During adolescence, young people start showing more interest in their own health and often wish to participate in decision making processes regarding their care. The role of health workers at this stage is to appreciate young people as individuals . Clinic summaries addressed directly to young people might play an important role in assisting with establishment of health behaviours and promoting good health in young people.

The aim of this research is to understand the views of adolescent patients on consultation summaries and identify factors can improve these summaries and subsequently their health and well-being.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 9

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom, NW1 2BU
    • University College London Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: N/A

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Young people aged 12-18 years attending a single diabetes outpatient clinic were invited to enrol. This clinic served patients from a wide geographical area across London and the South-East England with broad socio-economic status, diabetes control and ethnicity.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adolescents aged 12-18 years attending UCLH adolescent diabetes outpatient clinic

Exclusion Criteria:

• Young people who cannot speak English (effective communication with colleagues during the study is the major aspect of valid data collection)
• Young people who refuse to participate in focus group discussions

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

Focus group; This is a qualitative study using focus group discussions with young people aged 12-18 who are receiving consultation summaries. Patients attending a single diabetes service will be invited to enrol. This service serves a population from a wide geographic area and socio-economic backgrounds. Interviews will be conducted by a qualitative researcher with relevant experience. They will be held on the day of a participant's clinic appointment within the same hospital or on the day agreed with the participant.

Other: Interview-Questionnaire; Questionnaire

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants That Completed Interviews About Consultation Summaries They Were Receiving	The aim of this research is to understand the views of adolescent patients on consultation summaries and identify factors can improve these summaries and subsequently their health and well-being.	1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Imperial College London
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: David Inwald, Imperial College London

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chan Y, Irish JC, Wood SJ, Rotstein LE, Brown DH, Gullane PJ, Lockwood GA. Patient education and informed consent in head and neck surgery. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2002 Nov;128(11):1269-74. doi: 10.1001/archotol.128.11.1269.
• Bartle DG, Diskin L, Finlay F. Copies of clinic letters to the family. Arch Dis Child. 2004 Nov;89(11):1032-3. doi: 10.1136/adc.2004.051938.
• Baxter S, Farrell K, Brown C, Clarke J, Davies H. Where have all the copy letters gone? A review of current practice in professional-patient correspondence. Patient Educ Couns. 2008 May;71(2):259-64. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2007.12.002. Epub 2008 Jan 25.
• Harris C, Boaden R. Copying letters to patients: the view of patients and health professionals. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2006 Jul;11(3):133-40. doi: 10.1258/135581906777641712.
• Kessels RP. Patients' memory for medical information. J R Soc Med. 2003 May;96(5):219-22. doi: 10.1177/014107680309600504. No abstract available.
• Lawton J, Waugh N, Noyes K, Barnard K, Harden J, Bath L, Stephen J, Rankin D. Improving communication and recall of information in paediatric diabetes consultations: a qualitative study of parents' experiences and views. BMC Pediatr. 2015 Jun 10;15:67. doi: 10.1186/s12887-015-0388-6.
• Waterston T, San Lazaro C. Sending parents outpatient letters about their children: parents' and general practitioners' views. Qual Health Care. 1994 Sep;3(3):142-6. doi: 10.1136/qshc.3.3.142.
• A new series starts: the ABC of adolescence. (2005). BMJ, 330(7486).

Helpful Links

• Good Practice Guidelines - Department of Health, 2004

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 31, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 31, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): August 31, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 17, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 27, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): June 28, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 22, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 10, 2024
• Last Verified: April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: diabetes; clinic letter; clinic summary; post-consultation letter
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Autoimmune Diseases; Endocrine System Diseases; Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1
• Other Study ID Numbers: 18IC4465

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

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

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No