The Effect of Patient Discharge From the Maternal and Fetal Medicine Unit With Receiving a Discharge Letter Later Using the Apollo App on Discharge Data, Safety and Patient Satisfaction

The Effect of Patient Discharge From the Maternal and Fetal Medicine Unit With Receiving a Discharge Letter Later Using the Apollo App on Discharge Data, Safety and Patient Satisfaction - a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Women admitted to the maternal and fetal medicine unit are often discharged after a short hospital stay. The routine work in the department is prioritized such that the discharge letter are written. In the last year the Apollo mobile application (app) was introduced. It contains general information on the medical center and the maternal and fetal unit department as well as the medical records, laboratory results and summary and discharge letters. The Apollo app is used in the maternal and fetal unit in the discharge process so the patient can receive the discharge letter in the app and does not need to wait until the discharge letter is written.

It is not known whether this process is more effective than the regular discharge process and patients' satisfaction was not assessed previously.

In the present study we will compare discharge data, satisfaction and safety of discharging using the Apollo app versus the routine process.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Patient Satisfaction; Health Care Utilization
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Discharge using Apollo application; Other: Regular discharge

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 140
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Enav Yefet; Phone Number: 972-46652306; Email: enavy1@gmail.com

Study Locations

• Israel
  • North
    • Tiberias, North, Israel, 15208
      • Recruiting
      • Tzafon Medical center, Poriya
      • Contact: Enav Yefet, MD/PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women who are admitted to the maternal and fetal medicine unit with the intention to be discharged before delivery
• 18 years old and older
• Consent to participate
• Owner of a smart phone
• Consent to download the Apollo app

Exclusion Criteria:

• Delivery during her admission
• Doesn't own a smart phone
• Refusal to download to Apollo app
• Refusal to participate

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: Application discharge; The discharge is conditional on the approval of a senior physician or the attending physician in charge. The participant will sign on a "Form for discharge and consent to receive a discharge letter, using the "Apollo" application" in which the discharge process, recommendations and contact information of the department are described. Thereafter, the patient will be discharge home and the discharge letter will be available in the app once it is written. The participant is guided to contact the department, in case the discharge letter is not received in the application up to 24 hours after discharge.	Other: Discharge using Apollo application; Discharge using Apollo application
Other: Regular discharge; The discharge is conditional on the approval of a senior physician or the attending physician in charge. The patient will go home only after the discharge letter is written.	Other: Regular discharge; Discharge with the regular process

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
The mean time needed from discharge decision until the actual discharge	up to 24 hours from discharge decision

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Satisfaction rate from the discharge method	Satisfaction rate from the discharge method assessment using a questionnaire	Within a week following discharge from the department
The rate of participants with any technical difficulties to receive the discharge letter and reasons	The rate of participants with any technical difficulties to receive the discharge letter and reasons using a questionnaire	Within a week following discharge from the department using a questionnaire
The rate of participants with missed information that required the patient to seek medical help	The rate of participants with missed information that required the patient to seek medical help using a questionnaire	Within a week following discharge from the department using a questionnaire
The rate of participants with discrepancies between the discharge recommendations written in the final discharge letter and the "Form for discharge and consent to receive a discharge letter, using application" and details regarding the discripancies		Within a week following discharge from the department

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): November 30, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 5, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 5, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 11, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2024
• First Posted (Estimated): September 19, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 19, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2024
• Last Verified: August 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 55-24-POR

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