Does a Brief Intervention Decrease Patient Drop Out Rates?

March 18, 2021 updated by: Boston IVF

The Impact of a Brief Intervention on Retention Rates With Patients Who Did Not Return to Care After an Initial Physician Visit

The goal of this study is to determine a) if a follow-up email to selected patients who had an initial consult with an infertility specialist, but did not return for a second visit, would change return to care behavior and b) why patients had not returned.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

From July 2017 to March 2018 all patients who had attended an initial visit with an infertility specialist at the clinic, but had not returned for at least three months were selected to receive a follow up email. Those selected for an email excluded patients who the Investigator's knew had achieved a pregnancy, already had a plan for treatment, had visited for an egg freeze and all LGTBQ patients. The email asked if the patient had any questions about that visit, offered support to the patient and included contact information for the patient liaison sending the email. The email also asked each participant to indicate why they had not returned and were provided 4 options and an opportunity to write in a response. From April 2018 to December 2018 no emails were sent to patients. No other change of patient contact practice was initiated during the trial period. This study will observe routine to care behavior of these patients after 11 months post initial consult date.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

647

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
      • Waltham, Massachusetts, United States, 02451
        • Boston IVF

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Female patients attending an initial consult at Boston IVF between set dates.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Female patients attending an initial consult with a physician at Boston IVF and were recommended to continue care with the clinic

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who the Investigators knew had achieved a pregnancy
  • Patients who already had a plan for treatment in place after their initial consult
  • Patients who had visited for an egg freeze
  • LGTBQ patients

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
Follow Up Email
Patients received a follow up email 3 months after an initial consult with a physician but did not return to care.
Other: Follow up email
Patients received an email 3 months after an initial consult asking why they had not returned to care. Patients were provided with 4 options and a space to write in comments. The email asked if the patient had any questions and offered support.
No follow up
Patients who did not receive any follow up after their initial consult, following clinic standard of care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Return to care behavior
Time Frame: 11 months after initial consult
The study will track if the patient return to care rate
11 months after initial consult

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Boston IVF

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Alice Domar, PhD, Boston IVF

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 (Actual)

July 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 15, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

March 17, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 22, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 18, 2021

Last Verified

March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • DomarRTC

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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