HEARt Sounds: Audio Recordings to Improve Discharge Communication for Cardiology Inpatients

NCT03735342 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: D18184
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 57
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Ineffective hospital discharge communication can significantly impact patient understanding, safety, and treatment adherence. This is especially true for cardiology patients, who leave the hospital with complex discharge plans, a multitude of high-risk medications, post-procedural care instructions and recommendations for drastic lifestyle changes, all delivered in a time-pressured discharge discussion. The goal of this pilot trial is to determine if it is possible to use audio recordings to supplement usual discharge communication to improve cardiology patients' ability to understand and self-manage care after leaving the hospital.

Conditions

Cardiovascular Disease

Keywords

Hospital discharge; Audio-recording; Cardiology; Provider-patient communication

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Patient enrollment (Feasibility)

  The proportion of eligible cardiology inpatients who agreed to take part in the research.

  Time 1-Day of discharge, immediately post randomization

• Intervention fidelity (Feasibility)

  The proportion of cardiology inpatients in the intervention arm that received the audio recording intervention with full adherence to a pre-defined protocol fidelity checklist. Any deviations will be documented.

  Time 1-Day of discharge, immediately post randomization

• Patient use of intervention (Acceptability)

  The proportion of discharged cardiology patients in the intervention arm who used the audio recording between the day of discharge and a one-week follow up telephone call initiated by the research team.

  Time 2-One week after discharge, post randomization

Other Outcomes (7)

• Change in patient activation

  Time 0-Day of discharge, before randomization, Time 1-Day of discharge, immediately post randomization, Time 2-One week after discharge, post randomization

• Change in patient health confidence

  Time 0-Day of discharge, before randomization, Time 1-Day of discharge, immediately post randomization, immediately post randomization, Time 2-One week after discharge, post randomization

• Change in patient ability to understand health information

  Time 0-Day of discharge, before randomization, Time 1-Day of discharge, immediately post randomization, immediately post randomization, Time 2-One week after discharge, post randomization

Study Arms (2)

Audio Recording

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants receive a verbal discharge discussion with a provider, written discharge instructions and a re-playable audio recording of the discharge discussion with the discharging provider.

Other: Audio Recording

Usual care

NO INTERVENTION

Participants receive a verbal discharge discussion with a provider and written discharge instructions.

Interventions

Audio Recording OTHER

All participants will be provided with a re-playable audio recording of the discharge discussion on a portable electronic device. In addition, participants will have the option to record the discharge discussion on a personally-owned smartphone or receive access to the recording online, via the Open Recording Automated Logging System (ORALS).

Audio Recording

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• years of age or older
• Cardiology inpatients
• Comfortable reading and writing in English
• Willing to have discharge conversation recorded

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who are unable or unwilling to provide written informed consent
• Diagnosis of dementia, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
• Have a substance-abuse disorder
• Severe uncorrected vision or hearing problems
• Currently living in skilled nursing facility or hospice
• Planned discharge to a structured facility (e.g., skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, hospice)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: lead
• Dartmouth College: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Lebanon, New Hampshire, 03756, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Schott SL, Dannenberg MD, Dodge SE, Schoonmaker JA, Caisse MM, Barr PJ, O'Malley AJ, Bruce ML. Heart sounds: a pilot randomised trial to determine the feasibility and acceptability of audio recordings to improve discharge communication for cardiology inpatients protocol. Open Heart. 2019 Jul 11;6(2):e001062. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2019-001062. eCollection 2019.

  PMID: 31363416 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases

Interventions

Sound Recordings

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Audiovisual Aids; Educational Technology; Technology; Technology, Industry, and Agriculture

Study Officials

• Paul J Barr, PhD, MSc

  Dartmouth College

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Stacey L Schott, MD

  Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Masking Details: To minimize selection bias, study research assistants and enrolled discharging providers are blinded to participants' (patients') study arm allocation until after participants are enrolled in the study.
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 30, 2018
• First Posted: November 8, 2018
• Study Start: November 12, 2018
• Primary Completion: April 19, 2019
• Study Completion: December 30, 2019
• Last Updated: June 30, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-06

Locations

US (1)