NCT03590002

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Electronic Medical Transfer Tool to Improve Communication During Transfers From ICU

Completed NA Last updated 12 October 2021

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Electronic ICU Medical Transfer Tool in Critical Illness in 1,751 participants. Completed in 15 September 2021.

Timeline

30 July 2018

Primary endpoint
9 September 2020

15 September 2021

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Henry T. Stelfox, MD PhD
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	crossover
Masking	none
Primary purpose	health services research
Enrollment	1,751
Start date	30 July 2018
Primary completion	9 September 2020
Estimated completion	15 September 2021
Sites	4 locations across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• Electronic ICU Medical Transfer Tool

Conditions studied

• Critical Illness — all drugs for Critical Illness →
• Transitions of Care — all drugs for Transitions of Care →

Sponsor

Henry T. Stelfox, MD PhD

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Critical Illness or Transitions of Care. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

The transfer of patients from the intensive care unit (ICU) to a medical or surgical hospital ward is a particularly high risk transfer that may expose patients to complications or adverse events if there are communication breakdowns between sending and receiving medical teams. Current dictation practice often falls short in producing optimal clinical documentation on patients being transferred from the ICU to the ward. The use of an electronic transfer of care tool to standardize communication may improve the quality of information exchanged between ICU and ward medical teams during ICU transfers, compared to dictation. This study will stagger implementation of a new electronic ICU medical transfer of care tool across four adult medical-surgical ICUs in one city. It is anticipated that the electronic ICU transfer tool will positively impact two inter-related goals: (1) improve the completeness and timeliness of clinical documentation on transfer, and (2) reduce the incidence of associated adverse patient clinical outcomes after transfer (e.g., adverse events, ICU readmission).

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Effectiveness of an Electronic Communication Tool on Transitions in Care From the Intensive Care Unit: Protocol for a Cluster-Specific Pre-Post Trial.
   Parsons Leigh J, Brundin-Mather R, Whalen-Browne L, Kashyap D, et al · · 2021 · cited 3× · PMID 33416509 · DOI 10.2196/18675