Effectiveness of an Observational Unit at St. Olavs Hospital

St. Olavs Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Emergency Patients

Treatments: Other: Traditional ward; Other: Organizational change

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01092234

NO883974832 (Other Identifier)

2010/105-02

Details and patient eligibility

About

The trial is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly established Observational unit at St. Olavs Hospital in terms of readmission rates, compared to the provision of care in normal/traditional units for defined diagnosis and medical problems.

Full description

Observational units are thought to be more efficient than traditional ward units, but the evidence is scarce. The trial will in a randomized fashion evaluate the study hypothesis at an organizational level and not confined to specific diagnosis. The hypothesis to be tested is to confirm or reject the equal effectiveness of an Observational unit compared to a traditional ward for organizing in-hospital care.There are established eligibility and exclusion criteria based on clinical experience. Endpoint is length of stay and readmission within 30 days. In addition the study will give information on the use of diagnostic and treatment resources used and collect some basic demographic variables.

Enrollment: 105 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Emergency admitted patients only
• All patients on the list (appendix 1) with a tentative length of stay < 24 hours
• Predicted stay of less than 24 hours
• Willingness and able to sign a informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Emergency admitted patients with life threatening illnesses
• Patients with a tentative length of stay > 24 hours based on the summary of medical and logistical considerations e.g. need of major - surgery, infections with prolonged infusions of antibiotics.
• Unwillingness to sign a informed consent
• By discretion of the physician/surgeon
• Readmission of any reason in the study period (within 30 days)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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105 participants in 2 patient groups

Traditional ward

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Other: Traditional ward

Observational unit

Experimental group

Description:

Organizational change. Innovative organization of in-hospital care

Treatment:

Other: Organizational change