911 Nurse Triage Line

911 Nurse Triage Line Randomized Controlled Trial

Each year, millions of Americans call 911 for time-sensitive issues that don't require Emergency Medical Services (EMS). In need of medical help, these callers may treat 911 as an entry point into the healthcare system, yet an ambulance to the emergency department can harm both their own long-term health and the health of others. In a field experiment in Washington, DC, the investigators randomly assign nurses directly into 911 calls in order to triage low-acuity calls. While other 911 reforms have denied callers access to alternative resources, this effort reforms 911 by offering appropriate care.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Emergencies
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Triage nurse; Behavioral: No triage nurse

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 6053
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • District of Columbia
    • Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20032
      • Office of Unified Communications

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Low-acuity call

Exclusion Criteria:

• Incarcerated

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Triage Nurse; Triage nurse	Behavioral: Triage nurse; Triage nurse joins 911 call
Active Comparator: No Triage Nurse; No triage nurse	Behavioral: No triage nurse; Triage nurse does not join 911 call (business as usual)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Ambulance dispatch	Ambulance is dispatched in response to the 911 call	During or immediately subsequent to call
Ambulance transport	Caller is transported in dispatched ambulance	During or immediately subsequent to call
ED visit, 24 hours	Emergency department visit within 24 hours	24 hours
ED visit, 6 months	Emergency department visit with 6 months	6 months
Primary care visit, 24 hours	Primary care visit within 24 hours	24 hours
Primary care visit, 6 months	Primary care visit within 6 months	6 months
911 use, 24 hours	Whether caller made subsequent calls to 911 within 24 hours	24 hours
911 use, 6 months	Whether caller made subsequent calls to 911 within 6 months	6 months
Health expenditures	Total dollars and log-transformed dollars of Medicaid health expenditures	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Lab @ DC

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Pre-Analysis Plan

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 19, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 4, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 18, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): October 21, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 21, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 18, 2022
• Last Verified: October 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Emergencies
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1-1033362-1

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