NCT04789902: SurgeCon

SurgeCon: An Emergency Department Surge Management Platform

Active, enrolled NA Last updated 1 October 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing SurgeCon in Length of Stay in 436,052 participants. Participants enrolled and being followed up; not accepting new ones.

Timeline

1 January 2021

Primary endpoint
31 August 2024

31 March 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Memorial University of Newfoundland
Phase	NA
Status	Active, enrolled
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	crossover
Masking	none
Primary purpose	health services research
Enrollment	436,052
Start date	1 January 2021
Primary completion	31 August 2024
Estimated completion	31 March 2026
Sites	4 locations across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• SurgeCon

Conditions studied

• Length of Stay — all drugs for Length of Stay →
• Emergency Departments — all drugs for Emergency Departments →

Sponsor

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Who can join

Eligibility, any sex, with Length of Stay or Emergency Departments. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Wait times and overcrowding are challenging emergency departments (EDs) around the world. Several countries with advanced healthcare systems cannot keep pace with patient demand, and Canada ranks among the longest wait times compared to peer-industrialized countries. In fact, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) identified an 11% increase in ED wait times from 2015-2016 to 2016-2017. This translates to long wait times that deter patients from pursuing necessary care and increases their likelihood of leaving without being seen by an ED physician. In Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), this issue has precipitated strikingly serious situations regarding long wait times that have made the province a case-in-point for ED issues. To counter this, the investigators propose an innovative quality-improvement intervention called SurgeCon that includes a protocol-driven software platform and several other initiatives to reduce wait times and improve the sustainability of health systems without significant workforce changes. The investigators piloted SurgeCon at the ED in Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and found there was a 32% reduction in ED wait time.

Publications & conference data

8 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. A Quality Improvement Emergency Department Surge Management Platform (SurgeCon): Protocol for a Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomized Trial.
   Mariathas HH, Hurley O, Anaraki NR, Young C, et al · · 2022 · cited 9× · PMID 35323121 · DOI 10.2196/30454
2. A qualitative study of the barriers and facilitators impacting the implementation of a quality improvement program for emergency departments: SurgeCon.
   Anaraki NR, Mukhopadhyay M, Jewer J, Patey C, et al · · 2024 · cited 6× · PMID 39068432 · DOI 10.1186/s12913-024-11345-w
3. Implementation of an ED surge management platform: a study protocol.
   Anaraki NR, Jewer J, Hurley O, Mariathas HH, et al · · 2022 · cited 6× · PMID 35236510 · DOI 10.1186/s43058-021-00247-1
4. Factors Influencing SurgeCon Implementation in Four Canadian Emergency Departments Guided by Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.
   Rahimipour Anaraki N, Mukhopadhyay M, Patey C, Norman P, et al · · 2025 · cited 1× · PMID 41329785 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0337389
5. Privacy Matters: Experiences of Rural and Remote Emergency Department Patients - A Mixed-Methods Research Conducted in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
   Geetha Manukumar A, Miller M, Patey C, Mariathas HH, et al · · 2025 · cited 1× · PMID 39974427 · DOI 10.1177/11786329251320431
6. Implementation Of An ED Surge Management Platform: A Study Protocol
   Anaraki NR, Jewer J, Hurley O, Mariathas H, et al · · 2021 · cited 1× · DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-764312/v1
7. Voices from the emergency department: A theoretical framework analysis on patient experiences of care in emergency departments of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
   Geetha Manukumar A, Rahimipour Anaraki N, Etchegary H, Walsh A, et al · · 2026 · PMID 41662293 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0342555
8. A Qualitative Study of the Barriers and Facilitators Impacting the Implementation of a Quality Improvement Program for Emergency Departments
   Anaraki NR, Mukhopadhyay M, Jewer J, Patey C, et al · · 2023 · DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3139602/v1