SatisfactionNCT02619474
The Effect of Whiteboards on Patient Satisfaction
A study testing Whiteboard in people with Satisfaction and Physician-Patient Relations, run by University of British Columbia at 1 site in Canada.
Trial summary
These days, particularly over the last decade, attention is being paid to the opinion of the patient and, in the case of pediatrics, the patient's family. Unfortunately, recent work has shown that this remains an imperfect process. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Any age
- Conditions the study is for
- Satisfaction, Physician-Patient Relations, Communication
- What is being tested?
- Whiteboard
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 266 participants
- Where
- 1 siteCanada
- Study dates
- Sep 2015to Dec 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 Any age
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- All patients who were admitted to the pediatric wards
Who cannot join
- Any patients/parents who do not wish to enroll in the study
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: The Effect of Whiteboards on Patient Satisfaction: A Prospective Controlled Study in BC's Children's Hospital
These days, particularly over the last decade, attention is being paid to the opinion of the patient and, in the case of pediatrics, the patient's family. Unfortunately, recent work has shown that this remains an imperfect process. Studies of inpatient families show that parents often leave hospital with only a minimal idea of side effects of drugs, who they can contact in the event that something goes wrong, and even something as simple as the date of the next medical visit. In fact, some studies have shown that adult patients don't even know the name of their doctor or nurse.
While there are several papers examining the degree of unhappiness of parents in hospitals, there is very little research looking at what can be done to improve a patient's sense of satisfaction with care (and communication) while in the hospital. One suggestion has been the provision of whiteboards in the room that can allow the family to have a better idea of what is going on during the child's day. These have been suggested but never exposed to prospective, quantitative study.
Read more
With the intention of improving the management of patients in the new Acute Care Centre, the department of strategic planning at Children's Hospital organized a three day IMPROVE session moderated by PHSA specialists in quality control. During this meeting, the clinical course of a child on the medical and surgical wards was mapped out. This allowed the group to examine various ideas aimed at improving the care of children passing through the hospital and the sense of parental satisfaction with the whole process.
The main conclusion from the meeting (based both on available literature and the clinical experience of the group), was that communication between the medical team and parents should be improved. It was also concluded that the best way to do this would be to have a regularly updated whiteboard in each room. Prior to starting this, it was generally felt that the introduction of whiteboards should be tested in a prospective controlled manner - starting with a baseline study of patient satisfaction.
Read the detailed description
Initial quality control study.
Study design.
After discussion with senior nurses, residents, and physicians in the hospital, it was agreed that a baseline quality control study of patient satisfaction would be carried out on the medical and surgical wards. A UBC summer student was hired to administer the surveys. The initial stage of the study consisted of administering a previously validated questionnaire to families on the morning of their day of discharge. Families on the medical CTU and also surgical families were included. All information was obtained by face to face interview. No data was obtained from data bases or postal questionnaire.
Inpatient questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed by the health services research unit from the University of Oxford and has subsequently been used in Canadian hospitals. The questionnaire contains eight sub-headings that cover different aspects of the admission (courtesy, communication, comfort etc). Within each sub-heading there are five questions, each is scored from 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). The result is eight separate sub-scores, each with a maximum of 20 points, plus a total score of 160 points.
Results.
Over 3 months, 150 families were enrolled from the medical and surgical wards. No parents refused to enter the study. The results are summarized in graph 1. The pattern of responses in the surgical and medical patients was surprisingly similar. In general, parents are satisfied with their care at Children's Hospital but, as graph 1 shows, there were two obvious areas for improvement. The first was simple communication between health care staff and the parents. The second, and more serious problem, was dissatisfaction with the discharge process (labelled as continuity on the graph).
Proposed prospective study of whiteboards.
The hospital's Inpatient Model of Care committee reviewed these findings and developed a protocol aimed at improving both communication and discharge planning. Fortunately, there has been considerable interest in the results of the first study. As a result, there is enthusiastic support for the second stage investigation of whiteboards. Nursing and medical staff have been very supportive and helpful. The introduction of this new protocol will be studied in a prospective controlled manner - this plan forms the basis of this ethics application. The details of the study are as follows:
Study Patients:
The patient groups will be the same ones used in the initial quality control study. The intervention group will be medical CTU patients. The control group will be surgical patients. There has been full support from medical and nursing staff in both areas. All rooms in the hospital already have whiteboards but they are rarely used except to collect fluid balance data. The study will examine the effects of a formalized use of whiteboards on rounds in the medical wards. In the surgical wards the whiteboards are used on an occasion basis. There will be no change to the usual surgical ward round routine.
Study protocol:
The first step has been to add standardized headings to the boards. This has already been completed. Apart from the patient's name and target date of discharge, the board includes details of the care team such as, doctor, nurse, and social worker. At the bottom of the board there is a space for family questions, and then next to that is a space for the day's plan.
The improved communication framework will consist of the following:
- On morning rounds, the child's management will be discussed with the family and the day's plan for treatment and investigations will be written on the whiteboard.
- The second step will be to update the whiteboard at the end of the day. The nursing team are fully engaged with this part of the study. The child's bed side nurse will sit with the family in the afternoon and review the day's plan. Anything that has been left out or uncompleted will be highlighted and brought up on the following morning's rounds. Next, the nurse will ask the family to write down any questions. These will be listed on the board and will be a priority to be discussed at rounds.
- Lastly, on the afternoon before a child's discharge, the nurse will take particular care to make sure the parents write down all of their concerns prior to going home. These specific questions concerning discharge planning will be addressed in detail at rounds the following morning.
There will be no changes made to the usual ward routine for control patients on the surgical ward. There will be no other investigations associated with the study. In particular, there will be no laboratory or radiological investigations.
- Being tested
- Whiteboard
- Keywords
- Parent Satisfaction, Patient Satisfaction, Whiteboard, Communication
- Medical subject headings
- Personal Satisfaction, Communication, Patient Satisfaction
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
WhiteboardOther
- On morning rounds, the child's management will be discussed with the family and the day's plan for treatment and investigations will be written on the whiteboard.
- The second step will be to review and update the whiteboard at the end of the day. Anything that has been left out or uncompleted will be highlighted and brought up on the following morning's rounds. Next, the nurse will ask the family to write down any questions.
- Lastly, on the afternoon before a child's discharge, the nurse will take particular care to make sure the parents write down all of their concerns prior to going home. These specific questions concerning discharge planning will be addressed in detail at rounds the following morning.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Experimental | Experimental | Patients who have been admitted to the 3F or 3M wards under the care of the clinical teaching unit (CTU) after the introduction of the new, labelled whiteboard. Receives: Other: Whiteboard |
| Control | No intervention | Patients who have been admitted to the 3R surgical ward under the care of any of the nursing groups without the introduction of the new labelled whiteboard. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Parent satisfaction as measured on questionnaire
The questionnaire was developed by the health services research unit from the University of Oxford and has subsequently been used in Canadian hospitals. The questionnaire contains eight sub-headings that cover different aspects of the admission (courtesy, communication, comfort etc). Within each sub-heading there are five questions, each is scored from 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). The result is eight separate sub-scores, each with a maximum of 20 points, plus a total score of 160 points.
Measured: 6 Months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted2 Dec 2015 (estimated)
- Study startSep 2015
- Primary completionDec 2015
- Study completionDec 2016
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for SatisfactionStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of British ColumbiaThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- 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
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 266 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of British Columbia
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Michael Seear, University of British Columbia
- Investigators
- Mike Seear, MD, Principal investigator, British Columbia's Children's Hospital
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02619474
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- H15-01896
- Status last verified
- Sep 2017
- First submitted
- 19 Oct 2015
- Last updated
- 21 Sep 2017
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 21 Sep 2017. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Effect of Whiteboards on Patient Satisfaction: A Prospective Controlled Study in BC's Children's Hospital
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02619474
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- H15-01896
- Keywords
- Parent Satisfaction, Patient Satisfaction, Whiteboard, Communication
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 266 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of British ColumbiaUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- Sep 2015 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Dec 2015 (actual)
- Study completion
- Dec 2016 (actual)
- First posted
- 2 Dec 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.
These days, particularly over the last decade, attention is being paid to the opinion of the patient and, in the case of pediatrics, the patient's family. Unfortunately, recent work has shown that this remains an imperfect process. Studies of inpatient families show that parents often leave hospital with only a minimal idea of side effects of drugs, who they can contact in the event that something goes wrong, and even something as simple as the date of the next medical visit. In fact, some studies have shown that adult patients don't even know the name of their doctor or nurse.
While there are several papers examining the degree of unhappiness of parents in hospitals, there is very little research looking at what can be done to improve a patient's sense of satisfaction with care (and communication) while in the hospital. One suggestion has been the provision of whiteboards in the room that can allow the family to have a better idea of what is going on during the child's day. These have been suggested but never exposed to prospective, quantitative study.
With the intention of improving the management of patients in the new Acute Care Centre, the department of strategic planning at Children's Hospital organized a three day IMPROVE session moderated by PHSA specialists in quality control. During this meeting, the clinical course of a child on the medical and surgical wards was mapped out. This allowed the group to examine various ideas aimed at improving the care of children passing through the hospital and the sense of parental satisfaction with the whole process.
The main conclusion from the meeting (based both on available literature and the clinical experience of the group), was that communication between the medical team and parents should be improved. It was also concluded that the best way to do this would be to have a regularly updated whiteboard in each room. Prior to starting this, it was generally felt that the introduction of whiteboards should be tested in a prospective controlled manner - starting with a baseline study of patient satisfaction.
Detailed description
Initial quality control study.
Study design.
After discussion with senior nurses, residents, and physicians in the hospital, it was agreed that a baseline quality control study of patient satisfaction would be carried out on the medical and surgical wards. A UBC summer student was hired to administer the surveys. The initial stage of the study consisted of administering a previously validated questionnaire to families on the morning of their day of discharge. Families on the medical CTU and also surgical families were included. All information was obtained by face to face interview. No data was obtained from data bases or postal questionnaire.
Inpatient questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed by the health services research unit from the University of Oxford and has subsequently been used in Canadian hospitals. The questionnaire contains eight sub-headings that cover different aspects of the admission (courtesy, communication, comfort etc). Within each sub-heading there are five questions, each is scored from 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). The result is eight separate sub-scores, each with a maximum of 20 points, plus a total score of 160 points.
Results.
Over 3 months, 150 families were enrolled from the medical and surgical wards. No parents refused to enter the study. The results are summarized in graph 1. The pattern of responses in the surgical and medical patients was surprisingly similar. In general, parents are satisfied with their care at Children's Hospital but, as graph 1 shows, there were two obvious areas for improvement. The first was simple communication between health care staff and the parents. The second, and more serious problem, was dissatisfaction with the discharge process (labelled as continuity on the graph).
Proposed prospective study of whiteboards.
The hospital's Inpatient Model of Care committee reviewed these findings and developed a protocol aimed at improving both communication and discharge planning. Fortunately, there has been considerable interest in the results of the first study. As a result, there is enthusiastic support for the second stage investigation of whiteboards. Nursing and medical staff have been very supportive and helpful. The introduction of this new protocol will be studied in a prospective controlled manner - this plan forms the basis of this ethics application. The details of the study are as follows:
Study Patients:
The patient groups will be the same ones used in the initial quality control study. The intervention group will be medical CTU patients. The control group will be surgical patients. There has been full support from medical and nursing staff in both areas. All rooms in the hospital already have whiteboards but they are rarely used except to collect fluid balance data. The study will examine the effects of a formalized use of whiteboards on rounds in the medical wards. In the surgical wards the whiteboards are used on an occasion basis. There will be no change to the usual surgical ward round routine.
Study protocol:
The first step has been to add standardized headings to the boards. This has already been completed. Apart from the patient's name and target date of discharge, the board includes details of the care team such as, doctor, nurse, and social worker. At the bottom of the board there is a space for family questions, and then next to that is a space for the day's plan.
The improved communication framework will consist of the following:
- On morning rounds, the child's management will be discussed with the family and the day's plan for treatment and investigations will be written on the whiteboard.
- The second step will be to update the whiteboard at the end of the day. The nursing team are fully engaged with this part of the study. The child's bed side nurse will sit with the family in the afternoon and review the day's plan. Anything that has been left out or uncompleted will be highlighted and brought up on the following morning's rounds. Next, the nurse will ask the family to write down any questions. These will be listed on the board and will be a priority to be discussed at rounds.
- Lastly, on the afternoon before a child's discharge, the nurse will take particular care to make sure the parents write down all of their concerns prior to going home. These specific questions concerning discharge planning will be addressed in detail at rounds the following morning.
There will be no changes made to the usual ward routine for control patients on the surgical ward. There will be no other investigations associated with the study. In particular, there will be no laboratory or radiological investigations.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Experimental | Experimental | Other: WhiteboardPatients who have been admitted to the 3F or 3M wards under the care of the clinical teaching unit (CTU) after the introduction of the new, labelled whiteboard. |
| Control | No intervention | –Patients who have been admitted to the 3R surgical ward under the care of any of the nursing groups without the introduction of the new labelled whiteboard. |
Who may qualify
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- All patients who were admitted to the pediatric wards
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Any patients/parents who do not wish to enroll in the study
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whiteboard1. On morning rounds, the child's management will be discussed with the family and the day's plan for treatment and investigations will be written on the whiteboard. 2. The second step will be to review and update the whiteboard at the end of the day. Anything that has been left out or uncompleted will be highlighted and brought up on the following morning's rounds. Next, the nurse will ask the family to write down any questions. 3. Lastly, on the afternoon before a child's discharge, the nurse will take particular care to make sure the parents write down all of their concerns prior to going home. These specific questions concerning discharge planning will be addressed in detail at rounds the following morning. | Other | Experimental |
Primary outcome
Parent satisfaction as measured on questionnaire
Time frame: 6 Months
The questionnaire was developed by the health services research unit from the University of Oxford and has subsequently been used in Canadian hospitals. The questionnaire contains eight sub-headings that cover different aspects of the admission (courtesy, communication, comfort etc). Within each sub-heading there are five questions, each is scored from 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). The result is eight separate sub-scores, each with a maximum of 20 points, plus a total score of 160 points.
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 21 Sep 2017.
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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.
Mike Seear, MD principal investigator
British Columbia's Children's Hospital
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Whiteboard in people with Satisfaction and Physician-Patient Relations, run by University of British Columbia at 1 site in Canada.
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 1 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 21 Sep 2017. 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 Canada. 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?
Parent satisfaction as measured on questionnaire (time frame: 6 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 21 Sep 2017.