LumaENT and Patient Satisfaction

The Washington University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Thyroid

Treatments: Behavioral: LUMA ENT™; Other: Survey

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02611622

201301163

Details and patient eligibility

About

Patient satisfaction is an important metric currently used to rate quality of healthcare in hospitals. Maximizing patient satisfaction scores is therefore significantly beneficial to any hospital establishment. Recent studies have shown patient satisfaction depends on multiple factors, including patient involvement in treatment decision-making processes and patients' knowledge of treatment options. Internal review of departmental patient satisfaction survey scores revealed deficits in the aforementioned areas of patient satisfaction, with the domains of "how well concerns were addressed", "explanation of tests and procedures" and "effort to include patients in decisions" having the lowest scores on patient satisfaction surveys. This highlights the gap in patient satisfaction that the Otolaryngology department seeks to improve on, so as to maximize patient satisfaction, and in turn, the quality of healthcare provided.

The aim of this study is to assess the improvement in patient satisfaction scores that can be obtained by incorporating LUMA ENT™, a disease-specific multimedia patient education software, into the treatment decisions for thyroid disorders. LUMA ENT™ is a leading patient education software that provides visual anatomic animations of disease processes, disease progression and treatment options to improve patients' knowledge. Thyroid disorders have been chosen for study due to their high frequency of occurrence in the patient population and generalizability to a wide medical audience.

The investigators will perform a single-blinded randomized-controlled study of patients visiting the physician practices of the Department of Otolaryngology for management of thyroid disorders. Participants will be randomized into control and intervention groups. Upon completion of the routine physician-patient clinical encounter, the intervention group will view a 5- minute LUMA ENT™ video discussing their specific thyroid condition, its natural progression history, and treatment options. They will have an opportunity to ask the physician any further questions that arise from viewing the video. The control group will not view the LUMA ENT video. Patient satisfaction surveys will then be provided to both groups at the end of the visit as is routinely done and scores subsequently compared.

Enrollment: 35 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants will be patients scheduled to visit the BJH/WU Department of Otolaryngology clinic for management of thyroid disorders (ranging from benign to cancerous nodules or masses) that will involve surgical interventions of complete or partial thyroidectomies.
• must be between the ages of 18 and 80
• may be male or female
• must understand spoken or written English language
• must be able to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

-Patients who have already undergone any thyroid surgery will be excluded

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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35 participants in 2 patient groups

Arm 1: Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

* Participants will be presented with envelopes labeled with a unique block-randomization code and asked to pick one * Once the participant selects an envelope, the research coordinator will verify whether the code assigns the patient to the control or the intervention group, without the knowledge of the otolaryngologist who will be blinded to participant randomization at this point. * Participants in the control group will proceed to filling out Demographic Survey and Patient Satisfaction Survey * Once completed, they will be given the opportunity to discuss any further questions or concerns about their thyroid condition with their otolaryngologist

Treatment:

Other: Survey

Arm 2: LUMA ENT™

Experimental group

Description:

* Participants will be presented with envelopes labeled with a unique block-randomization code and asked to pick one * Once the participant selects an envelope, the research coordinator will verify whether the code assigns the patient to the control or the intervention group, without the knowledge of the otolaryngologist who will be blinded to participant randomization at this point. * Participants in the intervention group will proceed to viewing the LUMA ENT™ videos pertinent to their thyroid condition using either of the two iPADS (the videos should not last longer than 10 minutes) * Once video viewing is complete, participants will be given the opportunity to discuss any further questions or concerns about their thyroid condition with their otolaryngologist, especially as relates to questions that arise as a result of viewing the video * Subsequently, the participants will proceed to filling out Demographic Survey and Patient Satisfaction Survey

Treatment:

Behavioral: LUMA ENT™

Other: Survey