The Impact of Just-in-time Information on Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Discharges

Virginia Moyer

Status: Completed

Conditions: Patient Discharge

Treatments: Behavioral: Just-in-Time information

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT01091688

H-25701

Details and patient eligibility

About

We, the investigators, will provide "Just-in-Time" information, physician educational material, to primary care pediatricians of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates at the time of NICU discharge. We will follow the rate of adverse events (deaths, re-hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and missed appointments) for 6 months after NICU discharge. We will assess levels of physician comfort in caring for NICU specific diseases, as well as physician satisfaction with the discharge process. We hypothesize that the provision of "Just-in-Time" information will decrease the rate of adverse events, and make physicians more comfortable in caring for complicated NICU graduates, and more satisfied with the discharge process.

Full description

The purpose of this protocol is to evaluate the impact of providing "Just-in-Time" information, or physician educational material at the time of discharge, to primary care pediatricians caring for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates. The material provided will be tailored to the needs of each infant. The educational material will be sent to the physicians via email and facsimile on the day of discharge, and a hard copy will be sent with the parents to bring to their first clinic appointment. Outcomes, including emergency room visits, hospital readmissions, deaths, missed appointments, and improvements in care in the areas of intervention will be assessed. Levels of physician comfort in caring for various disorders specific to NICU graduates will be assessed, and satisfaction with the discharge process will also be evaluated pre- and post- intervention.

Enrollment: 229 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Pediatric care providers will be identified when they accept into their practices babies who are part of a related study of an enhanced discharge process in the Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) NICU (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01088945)
• Participating providers must be part of Texas Children's Pediatrics Associates (TCPA), or accept Texas Children's Health Plan (TCHP) insurance.

Exclusion criteria

• Providers who are not part of Texas Children's Pediatrics Associates (TCPA), or do not accept Texas Children's Health Plan (TCHP) insurance.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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229 participants in 2 patient groups

Just-in-Time intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The infants and physicians in the experimental group will receive the "Just-in-Time" intervention sheets at the time of discharge.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Just-in-Time information

Routine discharge care

No Intervention group

Description:

The infants and physicians in the routine discharge care arm will receive the same information and details as is per normal routine in the nursery.