NCT07032818

Brief Summary

Hospital discharge is a dangerous time for patients: one in five will suffer an adverse event, such as a medication error, and nearly 25% will be readmitted within 30 days. This time is even more dangerous for patients with who face communication barriers, including those with non-English language preference (NELP), low health literacy, and the elderly. The investigators will pilot a post-discharge educational intervention to reinforce written discharge instructions (known as the After Visit Summary or AVS) using a randomized controlled trial design (2:1 intervention: control). The control group will receive current standard of care discharge education which includes a nurse reviewing their AVS and an automated call in English that allows patients to numerically select types of problems/questions that are then escalated to a nurse who should return their call within a few days. The intervention group will receive the standard of care discharge education with the AVS and an additional post-discharge educational call delivered by a registered nurse or other qualified health professional with the option to have written instructions professionally translated and sent via MyChart message--if available in their preferred language.

Trial Health

77
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
60

participants targeted

Target at P25-P50 for not_applicable

Timeline
10mo left

Started Jan 2026

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
recruiting

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

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Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Progress27%
Jan 2026Mar 2027

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

June 13, 2025

Completed
11 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

June 24, 2025

Completed
7 months until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

January 16, 2026

Completed
1.1 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

March 1, 2027

Expected
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

March 1, 2027

Last Updated

January 20, 2026

Status Verified

January 1, 2026

Enrollment Period

1.1 years

First QC Date

June 13, 2025

Last Update Submit

January 16, 2026

Conditions

Communication Research

Keywords

Discharge instructionsNon-English language preferenceAdapting hospital discharge

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

  • Retention success by linguistic group

    Number of enrolled participants who completed all study assessments stratified by linguistic group.

    12 months

  • Fidelity to the intervention

    The number of scheduled educations calls that were completed for participants in the intervention arm based on nursing documentation in Epic.

    12 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

  • Acceptability of the intervention

    12 months

  • Feasibility of the intervention

    12 months

  • Patient Understanding of Discharge Instruction (UDI) Scale

    12 months

Study Arms (2)

Educational intervention

OTHER

Participants randomized into this arm will receive current hospital discharge education and an additional post-discharge educational call.

Other: Additional post discharge phone call

Standard of care

NO INTERVENTION

Participants randomized into this arm will receive current hospital discharge education.

Interventions

Additional post discharge phone callOTHER

24-72 hours after hospital discharge, a nurse will call participants to review the written After Visit Summary (AVS) given at discharge, including primary diagnosis, self-care instructions, emergency plan, medication changes, how and why to take medication, and scheduled follow up. These phone calls will take on average 10-15 minutes.

Educational intervention

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years+
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Registered language in Epic (written or spoken) is Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Cape Verdean, or Vietnamese
  • Admitted to medicine team at Boston Medical Center (BMC)
  • Being discharged home (to the community)

You may not qualify if:

  • On airborne infections precautions at time of recruitment
  • On C diff precautions at time of recruitment
  • On suicide precautions at time of recruitment
  • Nurse report of participant displaying cognitive impairment, ongoing delirium, or aggression
  • Discharge observed during a prior admission

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Boston Medical Center

Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, United States

RECRUITING

Study Officials

  • Kirsten Austad, MD MPH

    Boston Medical Center, Family Medicine

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Kirsten Austad, MD MPH

CONTACT

617 414-2050kirsten.austad@bmc.org

Khushbu Patel, MA

CONTACT

617 414-6227kfpatel@bu.edu

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Model Details: Two arm randomized controlled trial (2:1 intervention:control), Randomization stratified by language.
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

June 13, 2025

First Posted

June 24, 2025

Study Start

January 16, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Last Updated

January 20, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will not share

Locations

US(1)