DyspneaTELEDYSNCT07726628
The Impact of Telemedicine, Using the Caller's Mobile Phone Camera, on the Quality of Care Provided to Adult Patients Contacting the 15 Centre for Acute Dyspnea
A study testing Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching process in people with Dyspnea, run by Poitiers University Hospital at 10 sites in France.
Trial summary
Dyspnea is the subjective sensation of difficult or uncomfortable breathing. It accounts for approximately 10% of emergency department visits and 8% of calls to Emergency Medical Communication Centers. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Dyspnea
- What is being tested?
- Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching process
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 778 participants
- Where
- 10 sitesFrance
- Study dates
- 2 Nov 2026to Jun 2027
- 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
- Patients aged 18 or over
- Contacting the Emergency Medical Communication Center regarding acute dyspnea, respiratory distress or shortness of breath, as the main reason for the call, regardless of the underlying cause
- The patient or a bystander must have a mobile phone equipped with a camera and capable of making video calls
- Emergency inclusion authorized by the emergency physician responsible for medical regulation in accordance with the emergency consent procedure applicable at the time of the call
- Non-inclusion Criteria:
- An immediate life-threatening emergency justifying the dispatch of an emergency response team on an automatic basis in accordance with local protocols
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- Patient at the end of life or where a decision to limit treatment is known at the time of the call.
- Refusal to use telemedicine
- Lack of a telephone network enabling video consultation.
- Patient already included in the study.
- Individuals requiring enhanced protection, namely minors, pregnant or breastfeeding women, persons deprived of their liberty by a judicial or administrative decision, and adults under legal guardianship known at the time of the call
Who cannot join
- Refusal to pursue the study (patient or relative consent withdrawal).
- Patient not benefiting from a social security system.
- Free subject, without guardianship nor subordination.
Trial locations and contacts
10 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
10 sites in 1 country
France10 sites, 10 recruiting
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Angers
Angers, 49933
Dominique SAVARY, +33665807179, dominique.savary@chu-angers.fr
- Recruiting
Bayonne Hospital Center
Bayonne, 64100
Xavier PEREIRA, +33559443108, xpereira@ch-cotebasque.fr
- Recruiting
La Roche sur Yon Hospital
La Roche-sur-Yon, 85925
Julie BERGER LAILLET, +33251446205, julie.berger-maillet@ght85.fr
- Recruiting
La Rochelle Hospital
La Rochelle, 17000
Maxime JONCHIER, +33546455050, maxime.jonchier@ght-atlantique17.fr
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Montpellier
Montpellier, 34090
Hamza GHOMRANI, +33467339505, samu-sec@chu-montpellier.fr
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Nancy
Nancy, 54000
Tahar CHOUIHED, +33383851496, t.chouihed@chru-nancy.fr
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Poitiers
Poitiers, 86021
Nicolas MARJANOVIC, +33549441873, nicolas.marjanovic@chu-poitiers.fr
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Rennes
Rennes, 35000
Paul-Georges REUTER, +33661884684, paul-georges.reuter@chu-rennes.fr
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Strasbourg
Strasbourg, 67097
Raphaël CLERE-JEHL, MD, +33369551335, sabrina.garnier-kepka@chru-strasbourg.fr
- Recruiting
University Hospital of Toulouse
Toulouse, 31058
Frédéric BALEN, +33561772579, balen.f@chu-toulouse.fr
About this study
Official title: Video-assisted TELEmedecine for Medical Dispatch of Adult Patients Calling to an Emergency Medical Communication Centre for Acute DYSpnea: a Multicentre Stepped-wedge Cluster Randomised Controlled Study
Dyspnea is the subjective sensation of difficult or uncomfortable breathing. It accounts for approximately 10% of emergency department visits and 8% of calls to Emergency Medical Communication Centers. Nearly half of patients presenting with dyspnea require hospital admission, 15% require ventilatory support, and approximately 5% die. Early recognition of signs of respiratory severity is therefore essential to accurately assess clinical urgency, guide diagnostic evaluation, and inform appropriate management decisions.
In France, patients are encouraged to contact an Emergency Medical Communication Centers before presenting to an emergency department. Calls are managed by an emergency physician responsible for medical regulation, who performs a remote clinical assessment and determines the most appropriate level of care. Depending on the clinical evaluation, the physician may provide medical advice, refer the patient to an emergency department, dispatch emergency medical services, or send a physician-staffed mobile intensive care unit for life-threatening emergencies.
Read more
The remote assessment of patients presenting with dyspnea is particularly challenging. The inability to directly observe or examine the patient, combined with the caller's difficulty in accurately describing the clinical situation, may impair the recognition of disease severity and result in inappropriate triage decisions, including under-triage and over-triage :
Under-triage, characterized by failure to dispatch appropriate emergency resources or to refer the patient to an emergency department when indicated, may delay treatment and increase the risk of adverse outcomes, including mortality.
Conversely, over-triage, defined as unnecessary referral to primary care or emergency departments or inappropriate dispatch of emergency resources, contributes to emergency department overcrowding, inefficient use of prehospital resources, and increased healthcare costs.
In a previous study, the investigators demonstrated that video-assisted medical triage improved emergency physicians' ability to assess the severity of patients presenting with acute dyspnea. This telemedicine tool enables real-time transmission of a live video stream from the caller's smartphone camera to the emergency physician through a secure digital platform, providing direct visualization of the patient's clinical condition. By enhancing remote clinical assessment, video-assisted triage has the potential to reduce both under-triage and over-triage.
In the present stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial, the investigators hypothesized that incorporating real-time video support into the medical regulation of adult patients contacting an Emergency Medical Communication Centers for acute dyspnea would improve the quality of medical decision-making compared with standard telephone triage alone.
- Conditions
- Dyspnea
- Being tested
- Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching process
- Keywords
- Telemedecine, Dispatch, Triage
- Medical subject headings
- Dyspnea
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching processOther
Patients included during the intervention phase will undergo video-assisted medical triage.
Video-assisted triage will be performed using a secure web-based telemedicine hosted on a certified health data server. The emergency physician responsible for medical regulation will send a secure web link via SMS to the caller's smartphone or, when appropriate, to the smartphone of a relative or bystander. Once the link has been activated, a live video stream captured by the smartphone camera will be securely transmitted in real time to the physician's workstation at the Emergency Medical Communication Center, enabling direct visualization of the patient's clinical condition during the remote assessment.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Standard medical dispatching process (Control group) | No intervention | Not described |
| Addition of telemedecine to standard medical dispatching process (Experimental group) | Experimental | Not described Receives: Other: Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching process |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Proportion of inappropriate medical dispatch decisions (under-triage or over-triage)
Under-triage is defined as the assignment of a level of response that is insufficient for the patient's actual clinical needs. Under-triage is defined: 1) either as a patient receiving a medical advice alone at the initial call and within 24 hours; referred to an ED after a second call to EMCC or non-scheduled hospitalization or death or secondary EMS unit dispatched; 2) either as a patient initially dispatched to an ED (not with an EMS) and within 3 hours; required ventilatory support or cardiac arrest or death or secondary EMS unit dispatched.
Over-triage is defined as the assignment of a level of response that exceeds the patient's actual clinical needs. Over-triage is defined as an EMS unit being dispatched or a patient being referred to an ED after the initial call to an EMCC and, at the end of emergency management, no additional examination, no specific treatment , no hospitalization being required within 24 hours following the call to the EMCC.
Measured: 24 hours
Secondary outcomes (8)
Proportion of patients in under-triage situation
Definition of under-triage is given in the primary outcome.
Measured: 24 hours
Proportion of patients in over-triage situation
Definition of over-triage is given in the primary outcome
Measured: 24 hours
Proportion of patients requiring advanced respiratory support (defined as any oxygenation or ventilatory support beyond conventional oxygen therapy)
Measured: 3 hours, 24 hours, 28 days
Proportion of patients admitted to an intensive care unit
Measured: 24 hours
Proportion of patients experiencing cardiac arrest
Measured: 3 hours, 24 hours, 28 days
Proportion of deceased patients
Measured: 3 hours, 24 hours, 28 days
Duration of the medical regulation process
Duration of the call to the EMCC is defined as the time between the beginning of the call and the medical decision (assessed in minutes)
Measured: Immediately after the call to the EMCC
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio
The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is defined as the difference in mean costs divided by the difference in mean effectiveness. Effectiveness critrion will be the proportion of patients without serious complication (institution of in-hospital ventilatory support, occurence of cardiac arrest, or death from any cause).
Measured: 28 days
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Jul 2026
- Study start2 Nov 2026
- Primary completionMay 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionJun 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for DyspneaStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Poitiers University HospitalThe 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
- Diagnosis
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Sequential
- Model description
- This is a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial. Centers are randomized instead of usual randomization of patients. Randomization will determine the order in which each center will crossover from usual care (control phase) to medical regulation with telemedicine (experimental phase).
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 778 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Poitiers University Hospital
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07726628
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- TELEDYS
- Other IDs
- 2026-A00879-42
- Acronym
- TELEDYS
- Status last verified
- Nov 2026
- First submitted
- 13 Jul 2026
- Last updated
- 5 Nov 2026
- 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 5 Nov 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Video-assisted TELEmedecine for Medical Dispatch of Adult Patients Calling to an Emergency Medical Communication Centre for Acute DYSpnea: a Multicentre Stepped-wedge Cluster Randomised Controlled Study
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07726628
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- TELEDYS / TELEDYS
- Conditions
- Dyspnea
- Keywords
- Telemedecine, Dispatch, Triage
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 778 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Poitiers University HospitalUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 2 Nov 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- May 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Jun 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 24 Jul 2026 (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.
Dyspnea is the subjective sensation of difficult or uncomfortable breathing. It accounts for approximately 10% of emergency department visits and 8% of calls to Emergency Medical Communication Centers. Nearly half of patients presenting with dyspnea require hospital admission, 15% require ventilatory support, and approximately 5% die. Early recognition of signs of respiratory severity is therefore essential to accurately assess clinical urgency, guide diagnostic evaluation, and inform appropriate management decisions.
In France, patients are encouraged to contact an Emergency Medical Communication Centers before presenting to an emergency department. Calls are managed by an emergency physician responsible for medical regulation, who performs a remote clinical assessment and determines the most appropriate level of care. Depending on the clinical evaluation, the physician may provide medical advice, refer the patient to an emergency department, dispatch emergency medical services, or send a physician-staffed mobile intensive care unit for life-threatening emergencies.
The remote assessment of patients presenting with dyspnea is particularly challenging. The inability to directly observe or examine the patient, combined with the caller's difficulty in accurately describing the clinical situation, may impair the recognition of disease severity and result in inappropriate triage decisions, including under-triage and over-triage :
Under-triage, characterized by failure to dispatch appropriate emergency resources or to refer the patient to an emergency department when indicated, may delay treatment and increase the risk of adverse outcomes, including mortality.
Conversely, over-triage, defined as unnecessary referral to primary care or emergency departments or inappropriate dispatch of emergency resources, contributes to emergency department overcrowding, inefficient use of prehospital resources, and increased healthcare costs.
In a previous study, the investigators demonstrated that video-assisted medical triage improved emergency physicians' ability to assess the severity of patients presenting with acute dyspnea. This telemedicine tool enables real-time transmission of a live video stream from the caller's smartphone camera to the emergency physician through a secure digital platform, providing direct visualization of the patient's clinical condition. By enhancing remote clinical assessment, video-assisted triage has the potential to reduce both under-triage and over-triage.
In the present stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial, the investigators hypothesized that incorporating real-time video support into the medical regulation of adult patients contacting an Emergency Medical Communication Centers for acute dyspnea would improve the quality of medical decision-making compared with standard telephone triage alone.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Diagnosis
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Sequential
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- This is a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial. Centers are randomized instead of usual randomization of patients. Randomization will determine the order in which each center will crossover from usual care (control phase) to medical regulation with telemedicine (experimental phase).
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Standard medical dispatching process (Control group) | No intervention | – |
| Addition of telemedecine to standard medical dispatching process (Experimental group) | Experimental | Other: Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching process |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (11 listed)
- Patients aged 18 or over
- Contacting the Emergency Medical Communication Center regarding acute dyspnea, respiratory distress or shortness of breath, as the main reason for the call, regardless of the underlying cause
- The patient or a bystander must have a mobile phone equipped with a camera and capable of making video calls
- Emergency inclusion authorized by the emergency physician responsible for medical regulation in accordance with the emergency consent procedure applicable at the time of the call
- An immediate life-threatening emergency justifying the dispatch of an emergency response team on an automatic basis in accordance with local protocols
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Refusal to pursue the study (patient or relative consent withdrawal).
- Patient not benefiting from a social security system.
- Free subject, without guardianship nor subordination.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching processPatients included during the intervention phase will undergo video-assisted medical triage. Video-assisted triage will be performed using a secure web-based telemedicine hosted on a certified health data server. The emergency physician responsible for medical regulation will send a secure web link via SMS to the caller's smartphone or, when appropriate, to the smartphone of a relative or bystander. Once the link has been activated, a live video stream captured by the smartphone camera will be securely transmitted in real time to the physician's workstation at the Emergency Medical Communication Center, enabling direct visualization of the patient's clinical condition during the remote assessment. | Other | Addition of telemedecine to standard medical dispatching process (Experimental group) |
Primary outcome
Proportion of inappropriate medical dispatch decisions (under-triage or over-triage)
Time frame: 24 hours
Under-triage is defined as the assignment of a level of response that is insufficient for the patient's actual clinical needs. Under-triage is defined: 1) either as a patient receiving a medical advice alone at the initial call and within 24 hours; referred to an ED after a second call to EMCC or non-scheduled hospitalization or death or secondary EMS unit dispatched; 2) either as a patient initially dispatched to an ED (not with an EMS) and within 3 hours; required ventilatory support or cardiac arrest or death or secondary EMS unit dispatched. Over-triage is defined as the assignment of a level of response that exceeds the patient's actual clinical needs. Over-triage is defined as an EMS unit being dispatched or a patient being referred to an ED after the initial call to an EMCC and, at the end of emergency management, no additional examination, no specific treatment , no hospitalization being required within 24 hours following the call to the EMCC.
8 secondary outcomes
Proportion of patients in under-triage situation
Time frame: 24 hours
Proportion of patients in over-triage situation
Time frame: 24 hours
Proportion of patients requiring advanced respiratory support (defined as any oxygenation or ventilatory support beyond conventional oxygen therapy)
Time frame: 3 hours, 24 hours, 28 days
Proportion of patients admitted to an intensive care unit
Time frame: 24 hours
Proportion of patients experiencing cardiac arrest
Time frame: 3 hours, 24 hours, 28 days
Proportion of deceased patients
Time frame: 3 hours, 24 hours, 28 days
Duration of the medical regulation process
Time frame: Immediately after the call to the EMCC
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio
Time frame: 28 days
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 5 Nov 2026.
- 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.
10 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Addition of telemedine to standard medical dispatching process in people with Dyspnea, run by Poitiers University Hospital at 10 sites 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 11 inclusion and 3 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: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Nov 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 10 sites 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 Nicolas MARJANOVIC (+33549441873, nicolas.marjanovic@chu-poitiers.fr), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Proportion of inappropriate medical dispatch decisions (under-triage or over-triage) (time frame: 24 hours). 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 5 Nov 2026.