AzTrials
AzTrials

Abdominal PainNCT04717518

Anchoring Patients Pain Scores in the Emergency Department

An observational study of Abdominal Pain and Chest Pain, run by CHRISTUS Health at 1 site in United States.

Completed

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

Official record
Search all trials

Trial summary

The proposed research will be a prospective, observational study to test the hypothesis that anchoring will affect verbal pain scores in the emergency department. There will be a small retrospective aspect to this study to obtain patient satisfaction ratings. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Abdominal Pain, Chest Pain, Headache
What is being tested?
Measurement of Pain
How many people
108 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
24 Aug 2020to 12 Nov 2021
Phase
Observational
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 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Study population: Study subjects include patients presenting to the Emergency Department at CHRISTUS Spohn Shoreline with a chief complaint of pain.

Who may be able to join

  • 18 years of age or older
  • Presenting to the ED with a chief complaint of any type of pain

Who cannot join

  • Under 18 years of age
  • Refusal to consent
  • Incarcerated patients
  • Pregnant patients
  • Unable to complete survey secondary to clinical instability, severe pain, or disorientation determined by a study physician

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site

  • CHRISTUS Spohn Health System

    Corpus Christi, Texas, 78404

Other trials in United States

About this study

The proposed research will be a prospective, observational study to test the hypothesis that anchoring will affect verbal pain scores in the emergency department. There will be a small retrospective aspect to this study to obtain patient satisfaction ratings.

Read the detailed description

The investigators will evaluate a convenience sample of patients presenting to the ED with a complaint of pain. Patients will be consented for participation and will fill out a brief survey concerning the current visit in the ED. There will be two forms of the survey. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two survey forms. Participants will first be asked if their pain score for this visit is greater than or less than an anchor number provided. In this survey, the investigators will use 20 and 80 as our anchoring numbers. The participants will then have a follow up question asking them to estimate their pain score on a 0-100 scale. Investigators will then perform a chart review to determine patient satisfaction scores for that specific visit to determine if the anchoring effect has any input on patient satisfaction scores.

Being tested
Measurement of Pain
Keywords
Emergency Room
Medical subject headings
Abdominal Pain, Chest Pain, Headache, Arthralgia, Myalgia, Back Pain, Neck Pain, Emergencies

What participants receive

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

  • Measurement of PainOther

    Patients will fill out a brief survey concerning the current visit to the ED.

Study groups in NCT04717518
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Lower Anchor SurveyPatients will likely rate their pain lower.
Receives: Other: Measurement of Pain
Higher Anchor SurveyPatients will likely rate their pain higher.
Receives: Other: Measurement of Pain

What is being measured

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

  1. Utilization of a questionnaire to measure the mean pain scores between two intervention groups based on the numeric pain score scale

    A questionnaire will be used to measure pain scores by utilizing a numeric pain scale (0-100) and measure the effect of anchoring bias on pain scores in the Emergency Department. It is hypothesized that a lower pain score anchor will lead to a lower reported pain score by the patient.

    Measured: Through study completion, an average of 1 year

Secondary outcomes (1)

  1. An analysis to examine the influence of anchoring on patient satisfaction for patients with common chief complaints related to pain in the Emergency Department. It is unknown if anchoring affects a patient's overall satisfaction.

    Patients receive Press-Ganey questionnaire to evaluate their visit to the Emergency Department. We will measure if the anchoring pain score affects the patients overall satisfaction with their Emergency Department care.

    Measured: Through study completion, an average of 1 year

Timeline

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

  1. First posted22 Jan 2021
  2. Study start24 Aug 2020
  3. Primary completion12 Nov 2021
  4. Study completion12 Nov 2021

Resources

More details

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

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
108 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT04717518
Sponsor's protocol ID
2020-132
Status last verified
Mar 2022
First submitted
18 Nov 2020
Last updated
7 Apr 2022
Results posted
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: Plans to collaborate with other universities in other studies and/or grants.

Publications

  • "CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain." CDC, 2019, www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/prescribing/guideline.html.

  • Colorado Opioid Safety Pilot Results Report The Colorado Opioid Safety Collaborative Background. Colorado Hospital Association, 2017.

  • "Nonopioid Pain Management | AHA." American Hospital Association, 2018, www.aha.org/bibliographylink-page/2018-09-28-nonopioid-pain-management. Accessed 13 Nov. 2019.

  • Scholl L, Seth P, Kariisa M, Wilson N, Baldwin G. Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths - United States, 2013-2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018 Jan 4;67(5152):1419-1427. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm675152e1.

    PubMed 30605448

  • "Overdose Death Maps." CDC, 13 Aug. 2019, www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing/overdosedeath-maps.html.

  • Compton WM, Jones CM, Baldwin GT. Relationship between Nonmedical Prescription-Opioid Use and Heroin Use. N Engl J Med. 2016 Jan 14;374(2):154-63. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1508490. No abstract available.

    PubMed 26760086

  • Meisel ZF, Lupulescu-Mann N, Charlesworth CJ, Kim H, Sun BC. Conversion to Persistent or High-Risk Opioid Use After a New Prescription From the Emergency Department: Evidence From Washington Medicaid Beneficiaries. Ann Emerg Med. 2019 Nov;74(5):611-621. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2019.04.007. Epub 2019 Jun 20.

    PubMed 31229392

  • Marco CA, Kanitz W, Jolly M. Pain scores among emergency department (ED) patients: comparison by ED diagnosis. J Emerg Med. 2013 Jan;44(1):46-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2012.05.002. Epub 2012 Jul 13.

    PubMed 22795472

  • Marco CA, Nagel J, Klink E, Baehren D. Factors associated with self-reported pain scores among ED patients. Am J Emerg Med. 2012 Feb;30(2):331-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2010.12.015. Epub 2011 Mar 1.

    PubMed 21367555

  • Tversky A, Kahneman D. Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science. 1974 Sep 27;185(4157):1124-31. doi: 10.1126/science.185.4157.1124.

    PubMed 17835457

  • Northcraft, Gregory B, and Margaret A Neale. "Experts, Amateurs, and Real Estate: An Anchoring-andAdjustment Perspective on Property Pricing Decisions." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 39, no. 1, 1987, pp. 84-97, 10.1016/0749-5978(87)90046-x.

  • . Wansink, Brian, et al. "An Anchoring and Adjustment Model of Purchase Quantity Decisions." Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 35, no. 1, Feb. 1998, pp. 71-81, 10.1177/002224379803500108.

  • Yadav, Manjit S. "How Buyers Evaluate Product Bundles: A Model of Anchoring and Adjustment." Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 21, no. 2, Sept. 1994, p. 342, 10.1086/209402.

  • Liang, Hanchao, et al. "Bounded Rationality, Anchoring-and-Adjustment Sentiment, and Asset Pricing." The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, vol. 40, Apr. 2017, pp. 85-102, 10.1016/j.najef.2017.02.001. Accessed 13 Nov. 2019.

  • Brewer NT, Chapman GB, Schwartz JA, Bergus GR. The influence of irrelevant anchors on the judgments and choices of doctors and patients. Med Decis Making. 2007 Mar-Apr;27(2):203-11. doi: 10.1177/0272989X06298595.

    PubMed 17409369

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Abdominal Pain and Chest Pain, run by CHRISTUS Health at 1 site 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 2 inclusion and 5 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 7 Apr 2022. 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 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?

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?

Utilization of a questionnaire to measure the mean pain scores between two intervention groups based on the numeric pain score scale (time frame: Through study completion, an average of 1 year). 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 NCT04717518, which also lists 18 linked publications.

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 7 Apr 2022; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 8 Nov 2026.

AzTrials uses cookies for analytics and advertising. You can accept or reject them; the site works either way. Privacy Policy.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in