Evaluation of the Effects of Teleconsultations on a Endocrinology Referral List

Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre

Status: Completed

Conditions: Thyroid Nodule; Hyperthyroidism; Hypothyroidism; Diabetes Mellitus; Obesity; Goiter

Treatments: Other: Teleconsultation; Other: Protocol

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02710799

32981014.0.0000.5327

U1111-1179-2949 (Registry Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this study is evaluate the effects of telephone teleconsultations to primary care physicians (compared to the state's referral protocol) in the referrals waiting list for endocrinological appointments.

Full description

Rio Grande do Sul state's referral list for endocrinology evaluation in specialized care is highly overloaded. There is currently a referral protocol to select patients how should be referred. It will be evaluated if a intervention of telephone-based teleconsultations provided by the TelessaúdeRS to the primary care physicians can provide additional benefits. TelessaúdeRS is a telehealth program from the University of Rio Grande do Sul. This will be evaluated in a cluster randomized clinical trial.

Enrollment: 3,470 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients from counties with at least 5 endocrinology referrals waiting appointment.
• Patients referred from primary care physicians
• Patients referred because one of the protocol conditions (Diabetes Mellitus, Hypothyroidism, Hyperthyroidism, Goiter, Thyroid nodule, Obesity).

Exclusion criteria

• Patients from counties with more than one hundred endocrinology referrals waiting appointment.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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3,470 participants in 2 patient groups

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Referrals will be evaluated through the state's protocols

Treatment:

Other: Protocol

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Referrals will be evaluated through the state's protocols associated with telephone-based teleconsultations.

Treatment:

Other: Protocol

Other: Teleconsultation