Emergency CallSCFNCT07248488
Effect of an Intervention Combining the Use of Standardized Information and Sending an SMS Advice Message to Parents Calling the SAMU Center 15 for Uncomplicated Fever in Children
A study testing Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text message in people with Emergency Call and Fever; Pediatric Fever Management; Parental Anxiety, run by Centre Hospitalier Annecy Genevois at 1 site in France.
Trial summary
During the winter of 2022/23, a standardized protocol for managing fever in children aged 3 months to 10 years was implemented at Annecy Genevois Hospital for a period of one month. This protocol included advice given by the regulator and sending a text message to parents after the call. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Emergency Call, Fever; Pediatric Fever Management; Parental Anxiety
- What is being tested?
- Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text message
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 1,792 participants
- Where
- 1 siteFrance
- Study dates
- 7 Sep 2026to 28 Mar 2028
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
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
- Caller with parental authority over the child concerned by the call,
- Affiliated to a social security scheme or beneficiary of a similar scheme.
- Exclusion criteria relating to children involved in calls to the SAMU Centre 15 emergency medical service:
- Children who have already been the subject of a call to the SAMU Centre 15 emergency medical service in the last 15 days,
- Children with a history of urinary tract infection,
- Children referred by the dispatcher during the phone call to a healthcare facility for clinical evaluation (SMUR, private ambulance, fire department, parents referred to the emergency room or primary care physician).
Who cannot join
- Calls made from a landline or foreign number, making it impossible to send text messages,
- Calls made by someone who cannot read or understand French.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
France1 site
CH Annecy Genevois
Annecy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 74370
Hugo SCHMIT, MD, +33450637032 ext. +33, hschmit@ch-annecygenevois.fr
About this study
Official title: Effect of an Intervention Combining the Use of Standardized Information and Sending an SMS Advice Message to Parents Calling the SAMU Center 15 for Uncomplicated Fever in Children Over 3 Months and Under 10 Years of Age : a Regional Cluster Randomized Trial
During the winter of 2022/23, a standardized protocol for managing fever in children aged 3 months to 10 years was implemented at Annecy Genevois Hospital for a period of one month. This protocol included advice given by the regulator and sending a text message to parents after the call. A total of 182 calls were handled in one month: 95 during a 15-day period before the intervention was rolled out and 87 during a 15-day period during the intervention (43 with unread text messages and 44 with read text messages). All parents who read the text message understood it. The rate of compliance with advice was improved by the intervention when the text message was read (p < 0.01), in terms of increased paracetamol intake, avoidance of cold baths, undressing the child, and administering fluids. When the text message was read, the rate of calls to the 15 emergency center fell from 13% before the intervention to 2% when the text message was read (p = 0.04). A downward trend in emergency room visits was also observed, from 13% before the intervention to 5% when the text message was read and 19% when the text message was not read (p = 0.13). These encouraging data suggest that a randomized study would demonstrate the value of this approach in routine practice.
Even if the effect of such protocols is moderate, the target audience is such that their impact on the use of unscheduled care and on the healthcare system could be significant, at a low implementation cost.
Read more
The use of a standardized protocol involving the sending of text messages in cases of uncomplicated fever in children makes it possible to:
- standardize the advice given by call center doctors,
- ensure the traceability of advice,
- help parents monitor their children.
The objective of this study is to determine, in a randomized trial, whether the combined use of standardized advice for children with fever and text messages sent to parents by the emergency medical service (EMS) can:
- reduce the use of unscheduled medical care; ii) improve compliance with advice; iii) reduce the rate of callbacks to the emergency medical service; iv) improve parent satisfaction.
- Being tested
- Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text message
- Medical subject headings
- Fever
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text messageOther
When the emergency service is called, the coordinating physician provides standardized recommendations based on the treatment guidelines issued by the French Pediatric Society. After the emergency call, the parent who made the call receives a text message summarizing all the advice given by the doctor.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Combined intervention | Experimental | Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending of advisory text messages Receives: Other: Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text message |
| Traditional regulation | No intervention | Not described |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized protocol for managing childhood fever, combining systematic recommendations and text messages sent to parents with advices on seeking unscheduled care: visits to the emergency room and/or medical consultations
Measured: 21 days after the initial emergency call to the SAMU Centre 15
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted25 Nov 2025
- Study start7 Sep 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion20 Mar 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion28 Mar 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Emergency CallStudies 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
- Model description
- Randomized controlled cluster trial, open-label, in the AuRA region, evaluating the superiority of using a standardized protocol for regulating fever in children, combining systematic recommendations and sending an SMS with advice to parents, compared to current practice (no standardized protocol, no text message advice) on the rate of unscheduled healthcare visits 7 days after the initial call to the 15 emergency center. In both arms of the study, unscheduled healthcare visits within 7 days of the initial call will be assessed by responses to the follow-up text message on day 7 and a phone call from a Center 15 doctor between days 14 and 21, if the child has been hospitalized. All patients included in the study will be followed up for a minimum of 7 days and a maximum of 21 days after the initial call to the 15 Center.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 1,792 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Centre Hospitalier Annecy Genevois
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Virginie SAVRY, MD, Principal investigator, Centre Hospitalier Annecy Genevois
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07248488
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 24-07
- Acronym
- SCF
- Status last verified
- Nov 2025
- First submitted
- 18 Nov 2025
- Last updated
- 2 Dec 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 2 Dec 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effect of an Intervention Combining the Use of Standardized Information and Sending an SMS Advice Message to Parents Calling the SAMU Center 15 for Uncomplicated Fever in Children Over 3 Months and Under 10 Years of Age : a Regional Cluster Randomized Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07248488
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- SCF / 24-07
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 1,792 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Centre Hospitalier Annecy GenevoisUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 7 Sep 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- 20 Mar 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 28 Mar 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 25 Nov 2025 (actual)
- 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.
During the winter of 2022/23, a standardized protocol for managing fever in children aged 3 months to 10 years was implemented at Annecy Genevois Hospital for a period of one month. This protocol included advice given by the regulator and sending a text message to parents after the call. A total of 182 calls were handled in one month: 95 during a 15-day period before the intervention was rolled out and 87 during a 15-day period during the intervention (43 with unread text messages and 44 with read text messages). All parents who read the text message understood it. The rate of compliance with advice was improved by the intervention when the text message was read (p < 0.01), in terms of increased paracetamol intake, avoidance of cold baths, undressing the child, and administering fluids. When the text message was read, the rate of calls to the 15 emergency center fell from 13% before the intervention to 2% when the text message was read (p = 0.04). A downward trend in emergency room visits was also observed, from 13% before the intervention to 5% when the text message was read and 19% when the text message was not read (p = 0.13). These encouraging data suggest that a randomized study would demonstrate the value of this approach in routine practice.
Even if the effect of such protocols is moderate, the target audience is such that their impact on the use of unscheduled care and on the healthcare system could be significant, at a low implementation cost.
The use of a standardized protocol involving the sending of text messages in cases of uncomplicated fever in children makes it possible to:
- standardize the advice given by call center doctors,
- ensure the traceability of advice,
- help parents monitor their children.
The objective of this study is to determine, in a randomized trial, whether the combined use of standardized advice for children with fever and text messages sent to parents by the emergency medical service (EMS) can:
- reduce the use of unscheduled medical care; ii) improve compliance with advice; iii) reduce the rate of callbacks to the emergency medical service; iv) improve parent satisfaction.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- Randomized controlled cluster trial, open-label, in the AuRA region, evaluating the superiority of using a standardized protocol for regulating fever in children, combining systematic recommendations and sending an SMS with advice to parents, compared to current practice (no standardized protocol, no text message advice) on the rate of unscheduled healthcare visits 7 days after the initial call to the 15 emergency center. In both arms of the study, unscheduled healthcare visits within 7 days of the initial call will be assessed by responses to the follow-up text message on day 7 and a phone call from a Center 15 doctor between days 14 and 21, if the child has been hospitalized. All patients included in the study will be followed up for a minimum of 7 days and a maximum of 21 days after the initial call to the 15 Center.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Combined intervention | Experimental | Other: Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text messageStandardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending of advisory text messages |
| Traditional regulation | No intervention | – |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Caller with parental authority over the child concerned by the call,
- Affiliated to a social security scheme or beneficiary of a similar scheme.
- Exclusion criteria relating to children involved in calls to the SAMU Centre 15 emergency medical service:
- Children who have already been the subject of a call to the SAMU Centre 15 emergency medical service in the last 15 days,
- Children with a history of urinary tract infection,
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Calls made from a landline or foreign number, making it impossible to send text messages,
- Calls made by someone who cannot read or understand French.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text messageWhen the emergency service is called, the coordinating physician provides standardized recommendations based on the treatment guidelines issued by the French Pediatric Society. After the emergency call, the parent who made the call receives a text message summarizing all the advice given by the doctor. | Other | Combined intervention |
Primary outcome
Evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized protocol for managing childhood fever, combining systematic recommendations and text messages sent to parents with advices on seeking unscheduled care: visits to the emergency room and/or medical consultations
Time frame: 21 days after the initial emergency call to the SAMU Centre 15
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 2 Dec 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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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.
Virginie SAVRY, MD principal investigator
Centre Hospitalier Annecy Genevois
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Standardized recommendations during emergency calls and sending advisory text message in people with Emergency Call and Fever; Pediatric Fever Management; Parental Anxiety, run by Centre Hospitalier Annecy Genevois at 1 site in France.
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 6 inclusion and 2 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: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 2 Dec 2025. 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 France. 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?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Marion BEUCHER (+33450637032 ext. +33, mbeucher@ch-annecygenevois.fr), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized protocol for managing childhood fever, combining systematic recommendations and text messages sent to parents with advices on seeking unscheduled care: visits to the emergency room and/or medical consultations (time frame: 21 days after the initial emergency call to the SAMU Centre 15). 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 2 Dec 2025.