CommunicationNCT02586779
Effectiveness of WhatsApp (a Messenger Program) Usage in Emergency Department (ED)
A study testing whatsApp and without whatsApp in people with Communication, run by Adiyaman University Research Hospital at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).
Trial summary
Effective communication between consulting physicians and the emergency physicians is critical for patients in the emergency department. The aim of this study was to determinate effectiveness of whatsApp usage for communication between physicians. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 19 to 80 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Communication
- What is being tested?
- whatsApp and without whatsApp
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 300 participants
- Where
- 1 siteTurkey (Türkiye)
- Study dates
- Oct 2015to Mar 2016
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
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 19 to 80 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Adult patients who performed consultation in emergency department.
- Patients who are consulted to a physician using whatsApp on a regular basis and who is chosen by an assistant blinded to the study.
Who cannot join
- Patients below 18 years of age
- Missing emergency service consultations
- Patients with more than one consultation call
- Consultations which do not determined the arrival duration to emergency service
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
Turkey (Türkiye)1 site
Adiyaman University Research Hospital
Adıyaman, Central, 02000
About this study
Official title: Effectiveness of WhatsApp Messenger Usage and Other Technologises on Communication Between Consulting Physicians and the Emergency Department Staff: Randomised Double-blind Controlled Trial
Effective communication between consulting physicians and the emergency physicians is critical for patients in the emergency department. The aim of this study was to determinate effectiveness of whatsApp usage for communication between physicians.
Read the detailed description
Effective communication between consulting physicians and the emergency physicians is critical for patients in the emergency department. Many hospitals still use outdated pager systems as the foundation for clinical communication between physicians and other health care professionals. But, outdated pager systems contain some problems including long waiting-times for the return of a page, high costs, frequent interruptions, and the inability to identify the location or identity of the caller. This outdated communication technologies in healthcare can place patient safety at risk. Therefore they are no longer seen as an effective communication tool given the obvious advantages of Smart phones. WhatsApp Messenger, which is a messaging program for smart phones, is the most commonly used for communication in at present. As of September 2015, WhatsApp incorporated announced more than 900 million users. This is making it the most globally popular messaging application. WhatsApp Messenger have been started to be used for communication in healthcare. So, this study aims to trial the effect of whatsApp usage for communication between physicians.
Study Design and Setting: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled, single-center, clinical trial was conducted in ED of a tertiary care university hospital with an annual census of approximately 200,000 visits.
- Conditions
- Communication
- Being tested
- whatsApp, without whatsApp
- Keywords
- Referral and consultation, emergency department, WhatsApp
- Medical subject headings
- Communication, Emergencies
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
whatsAppOther
whatsApp application will be used for consultations.
without whatsAppOther
whatsApp application will be not used for consultations.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| whatsApp messages | Experimental | consultations in the experimental group will be generated with whatsApp. Patients' all radiographies, laboratory results, electrocardiographs, tomography images, wound images and/or extremity pictures will be sent to consultant physician via whatsApp. Receives: Other: whatsApp |
| control group | Other | consultations in the control group will be generated without whatsApp. Receives: Other: without whatsApp |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
arrival duration to emergency department
Examine consulting Physicians' arrival duration to emergency department will be obtained from consultation hours in whatsApp program.
Measured: one month
Secondary outcomes (1)
examine causes of consulting Physicians' arriving late to emergency department from data obtained by questioning of an assistant blinded to the study
Measured: one month
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted26 Oct 2015 (estimated)
- Study startOct 2015
- Primary completionFeb 2016
- Study completionMar 2016
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for CommunicationStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
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
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Quadruple blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 300 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Adiyaman University Research Hospital
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Umut Gulacti, Adiyaman University Research Hospital
- Investigators
- Umut Gulacti, M.D., Principal investigator, Adiyaman University of Medical Faculty
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02586779
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2015/04-11
- Status last verified
- Mar 2016
- First submitted
- 23 Oct 2015
- Last updated
- 4 Mar 2016
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Publications
Johnston MJ, King D, Arora S, Behar N, Athanasiou T, Sevdalis N, Darzi A. Smartphones let surgeons know WhatsApp: an analysis of communication in emergency surgical teams. Am J Surg. 2015 Jan;209(1):45-51. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2014.08.030. Epub 2014 Oct 22.
PubMed 25454952
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 4 Mar 2016. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effectiveness of WhatsApp Messenger Usage and Other Technologises on Communication Between Consulting Physicians and the Emergency Department Staff: Randomised Double-blind Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02586779
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2015/04-11
- Conditions
- Communication
- Keywords
- Referral and consultation, emergency department, WhatsApp
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 300 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Adiyaman University Research HospitalUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- Oct 2015
- Primary completion
- Feb 2016 (actual)
- Study completion
- Mar 2016 (actual)
- First posted
- 26 Oct 2015 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Effective communication between consulting physicians and the emergency physicians is critical for patients in the emergency department. The aim of this study was to determinate effectiveness of whatsApp usage for communication between physicians.
Detailed description
Effective communication between consulting physicians and the emergency physicians is critical for patients in the emergency department. Many hospitals still use outdated pager systems as the foundation for clinical communication between physicians and other health care professionals. But, outdated pager systems contain some problems including long waiting-times for the return of a page, high costs, frequent interruptions, and the inability to identify the location or identity of the caller. This outdated communication technologies in healthcare can place patient safety at risk. Therefore they are no longer seen as an effective communication tool given the obvious advantages of Smart phones. WhatsApp Messenger, which is a messaging program for smart phones, is the most commonly used for communication in at present. As of September 2015, WhatsApp incorporated announced more than 900 million users. This is making it the most globally popular messaging application. WhatsApp Messenger have been started to be used for communication in healthcare. So, this study aims to trial the effect of whatsApp usage for communication between physicians.
Study Design and Setting: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled, single-center, clinical trial was conducted in ED of a tertiary care university hospital with an annual census of approximately 200,000 visits.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Quadruple blind (participant, care provider, investigator, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| whatsApp messages | Experimental | Other: whatsAppconsultations in the experimental group will be generated with whatsApp. Patients' all radiographies, laboratory results, electrocardiographs, tomography images, wound images and/or extremity pictures will be sent to consultant physician via whatsApp. |
| control group | Other | Other: without whatsAppconsultations in the control group will be generated without whatsApp. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 19 to 80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Adult patients who performed consultation in emergency department.
- Patients who are consulted to a physician using whatsApp on a regular basis and who is chosen by an assistant blinded to the study.
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Patients below 18 years of age
- Missing emergency service consultations
- Patients with more than one consultation call
- Consultations which do not determined the arrival duration to emergency service
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| whatsAppwhatsApp application will be used for consultations. | Other | whatsApp messages |
| without whatsAppwhatsApp application will be not used for consultations. | Other | control group |
Primary outcome
arrival duration to emergency department
Time frame: one month
Examine consulting Physicians' arrival duration to emergency department will be obtained from consultation hours in whatsApp program.
1 secondary outcome
examine causes of consulting Physicians' arriving late to emergency department from data obtained by questioning of an assistant blinded to the study
Time frame: one month
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 4 Mar 2016.
- Background: PubMed 25454952Johnston MJ, King D, Arora S, Behar N, Athanasiou T, Sevdalis N, Darzi A. Smartphones let surgeons know WhatsApp: an analysis of communication in emergency surgical teams. Am J Surg. 2015 Jan;209(1):45-51. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2014.08.030. Epub 2014 Oct 22.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Umut Gulacti, M.D. principal investigator
Adiyaman University of Medical Faculty
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing whatsApp and without whatsApp in people with Communication, run by Adiyaman University Research Hospital at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).
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 2 inclusion and 4 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 4 Mar 2016. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). 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?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
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?
arrival duration to emergency department (time frame: one month). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02586779, which also lists 1 linked publication.
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 4 Mar 2016.