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Primary CareNCT00914485

Using Multimedia Patient Feedback to Reduce Disparities in VA Healthcare

A study testing Provider Communication Skills Training in people with Primary Care, run by US Department of Veterans Affairs at 2 sites in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The proposed research will provide important insight into two serious problems for veterans' healthcare: 1) mixed effectiveness of communication improvement interventions in the VA to date, and 2) persistence of racial/ethnic disparities in VA healthcare. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Primary Care
What is being tested?
Provider Communication Skills Training
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
369 participants
Where
2 sitesUnited States
Study dates
Dec 2009to Mar 2013
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Any patient included in the regular panel of a participating physician at either study site who is a returning patient for that physician. Since 2 of the patient perceptual measures included require the pre-existence of a relationship with a specific physician, we will only enroll patients who have been seen by their physician before.

Who cannot join

  • Physical disabilities that prohibit unassisted participation in research protocol:
  • legal blindness
  • dementia
  • severe post-traumatic stress disorder
  • schizophrenic disorder
  • Alzheimer's disease
Show all 9Show fewer
  • bipolar disorder
  • and severe anxiety and/or mood disorders (must be documented in patient's medical record or attested to by patient, physician or charge nurse).
  • Also, no patients new to VA primary care or to a given participating physician will be enrolled.

Trial locations and contacts

2 sites in 1 country.

United States2 sites
  • Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX

    Houston, Texas, 77030

  • Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, New Orleans, LA

    New Orleans, Louisiana, 70112

Other trials in United States

About this study

The proposed research will provide important insight into two serious problems for veterans' healthcare: 1) mixed effectiveness of communication improvement interventions in the VA to date, and 2) persistence of racial/ethnic disparities in VA healthcare.

Read the detailed description

The proposed research will provide important insight into two serious problems for veterans' healthcare: 1) mixed effectiveness of communication improvement interventions in the VA to date, and 2) persistence of racial/ethnic disparities in VA healthcare. We have identified 4 "best acts" of physician communication that patients believe to be most important in a clinical interaction. We propose to develop and evaluate a physician communication intervention that focuses specifically on these acts. In addition, our abundance of pilot study data from patients of various races/ethnicities enables us to create an intervention applicable to communication that spans patient race/ethnicity. Evaluating this intervention with physicians and patients in 2 independent VA primary care settings will help determine whether a patient-driven communication focus that incorporates input from patients of varied race/ethnicity can help "close the gap" in health outcomes between white and minority veterans.

We aim to (1) demonstrate the efficacy of using "best acts" of physician communication as content for an intervention to improve physician communication skills overall and reduce variation in communication with white versus racial/ethnic minority patients, and (2) assess the impact of patient experiences of "best acts" on patients' perceptual and behavioral outcomes.

We have collected data from over 200 primary care patients as they viewed a video of themselves and their physician interacting during a clinic visit. From these data, we are developing an educational intervention for physicians that focuses specifically on the 4 "best acts" we have identified. Scripts of the 4 "best acts" will be developed, and standardized patients at Baylor College of Medicine will perform the acts, which will be video recorded. We will then conduct a 2-site longitudinal observational study of 16 primary care physicians (8 at each site) and 36 patients of each physician. At the first site at 3-month intervals, physicians will attend an instruction session consisting of viewing a video of one best act and participating in group discussion, role-playing re-enactment of the act, and formulation of bulleted "take-away" points to facilitate subsequent recall. Once completed, the sequence of sessions will occur at the second site. At both sites, clinical interactions of participating physicians and patients will be audio recorded, and audio recordings will be analyzed for frequency of occurrence of the 4 "best acts." After each study visit, each patient will complete validated surveys measuring patients' perceptions of their physician on 4 affective dimensions known to impact patients' subsequent perceptual and behavioral outcomes. Efficacy will be assessed across patient demographics.

Conditions
Primary Care
Being tested
Provider Communication Skills Training

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Provider Communication Skills TrainingBehavioural

    Consists of 4 separate 1-hour sessions, 1 per "best act," in which physicians view 3 video-recorded performances of each act performed by trained actors of varied race/ethnicity.

Study groups in NCT00914485
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Provider Communication Skills TrainingOtherProvider clinical communication training intervention
Receives: Behavioral: Provider Communication Skills Training

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Change in Provider Use of Best Acts From Baseline to Post-Intervention

    Mean per-patient use of "best acts" learned during provider communication skills intervention, post-intervention minus baseline.

    Measured: Baseline, 18 months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted5 Jun 2009 (estimated)
  2. Study startDec 2009
  3. Primary completionFeb 2013
  4. Study completionMar 2013

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Health services research
Allocation
Non-randomised
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
369 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00914485
Sponsor's protocol ID
IIR 07-194
Status last verified
Apr 2015
First submitted
3 Jun 2009
Last updated
27 Apr 2015
Data monitoring committee
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Provider Communication Skills Training in people with Primary Care, run by US Department of Veterans Affairs at 2 sites in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 9 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 27 Apr 2015. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 2 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 9 Mar 2015). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Change in Provider Use of Best Acts From Baseline to Post-Intervention (time frame: Baseline, 18 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 27 Apr 2015.

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