Optimization and Testing of ALRITE, a Clinical Decision Support Tool for Management of Respiratory Illnesses in Young Children in Primary Care Health Facilities in Uganda

University of Washington

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Acute Lower Respiratory Illness; Childhood Asthma; Wheezing Lower Respiratory Illness; Pneumonia Childhood

Treatments: Other: ALRITE

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT07369817

5K23HL163321-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

STUDY00020447

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to pilot test the feasibility of a mobile health clinical decision support tool called ALRITE for the diagnosis and management of acute lower respiratory illnesses in young children in Uganda. Asthma/wheezing illness, in particular, is underdiagnosed in this setting. The main questions the study aims to answer are:

• Are the intervention structure, processes, outcomes, and implementations strategies feasible to conduct in the desired settings?
• Does ALRITE increase the diagnosis of wheezing illness among children seen at Ugandan health centers?

Researchers will compare outcomes before and after ALRITE deployment to healthcare workers at 4 Ugandan healthcare centers using an interrupted time series design. Study participants are healthcare workers.

There will be12 months of baseline data collection ("baseline period"), at the beginning of which healthcare workers will be enrolled at each site. Following the baseline period, health workers will receive ALRITE training and will be encouraged but not required to use ALRITE in clinical care for a 6-month intervention period. Health worker participants will fill out surveys and participate in focus group discussions to provide feedback.

Enrollment: 48 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthcare workers employed at each study site with a minimum of 6 months' experience of caring for children with respiratory symptoms in general outpatient care
• Completed one of the following training programs: medical officer, clinical officer, nurse, midwife
• proficient in reading and speaking English, one of the official languages of Uganda
• at least 18 years of age

Exclusion criteria

• inability to read/write English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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48 participants in 1 patient group

ALRITE deployment

Experimental group

Description:

Healthcare workers will undergo training in the mobile health decision support tool called ALRITE. They will each receive an ALRITE-enabled tablet to use in clinical care. ALRITE use is encouraged but not required. Researchers will collect clinical data from the health record at each study site to evaluate the effect of the ALRITE intervention on acute lower respiratory illness diagnosis and treatment.

Treatment:

Other: ALRITE