Purpose

Communication with patients on their clinical status is important in delivering care in the emergency department. During times of high volume or complex patients, there may be lapses in communicating with patients about their hospital course or plans of action. These miscommunications may be enhanced during the current COVID-19 pandemic as there is minimized in-person interaction with patients in order to conserve personal protective equipment and decrease the risk of disease transmission. This study utilizes a virtual white board to deliver updates to patients about the status of their emergency department stay.

Conditions

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • Patients in emergency department at Brigham and Women's Hospital - Triaged to designated emergency department pods outfitted with virtual white board - Expected emergency department stay of at least four hours - Able to speak and read english - Not primary psychiatric complaint

Exclusion Criteria

  • Medically ill or otherwise deemed unable to participate by the study PI and/or treating clinical team. - Patients admitted to an inpatient bed but boarding in the emergency department over 10 hours. - Previously participated in the study. - Has COVID-19 risk flag or confirmed COVID-19 in electronic health record

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description
Randomized controlled trial
Primary Purpose
Other
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Active Comparator
Treatment as usual in emergency department
Individuals triaged to a pod in the emergency department without rooms that are fitted with a virtual display screen
  • Behavioral: Treatment as usual
    Treatment as usual in the emergency department with communication of testing results, imaging and disposition by the primary clinical emergency department team.
Experimental
Virtual white board
Individuals triaged to a pod in the emergency department in a room that is fitted with a virtual display screen
  • Device: e-ink screen
    A virtual display screen developed by e-ink that displays patient status, basic demographics, care team information, pending tests and anticipated disposition

Recruiting Locations

Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Contact:
Peter R Chai, MD MMS
617-732-5640
pchai@bwh.harvard.edu

More Details

NCT ID
NCT04497922
Status
Unknown status
Sponsor
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Study Contact

Peter R Chai, MD
617-632-5640
pchai@bwh.harvard.edu

Detailed Description

The ultimate goal of this study is to understand the effect of delivering timely information about a patient's emergency department course of their satisfaction surrounding the emergency department stay. The experience of patients in the emergency department has been significantly altered by the COVID-19 pandemic due to decreased in-person encounters, and the use of PPE. Delivering information about their clinical course and expected hospital course is more difficult now given the emphasis on less in-person interaction. In response, the investigators have deployed in collaboration with e-ink, a virtual e-paper white board that can be remotely edited to help display pertinent hospital course information to patients in the emergency department. The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial to understand the effect of deploying these white boards on patient satisfaction in the emergency department.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.