A Pilot Study to Improve Patient-Doctor Communication

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Chronic Disease, Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia, Diabetes Mellitus, Osteoarthritis, COPD, Cardiovascular Disease

In brief

The purpose of this controlled pilot study is to determine whether an intervention aimed at patients will improve partnering, shared decision-making and open communication. Results from this pilot study will inform how to best proceed with a larger multi-centered randomized controlled trial. The specific hypothesis for this pilot study is to: 1. Test the feasibility of a simple patient-centered intervention. 2. Test the correlation between patient readiness to actively engage in conversation (assessed using a pre-visit patient survey) and actual patient behaviors in the encounter. 3. Develop a coding tool that will quantify patient activation in clinical encounters. 4. Test whether activating patients who are more involved and revealing in the patient-clinician dyad will improve patient and clinician outcomes.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01606930

Run by

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

People needed

106

Starts

2010-11-01

Expected to finish

2011-11-01

Last updated by the study team

2012-05-28

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 80. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Military health care beneficiaries presenting for chronic medical care with their primary care clinician
• Over the age of 18
• At least 2 and no more than 10 visits with their primary care provider in the previous year
• Receiving pharmacological treatment for hypertension
• At least 2 of the following common chronic illnesses: hyperlipidemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, congestive heart failure, chronic pain, ischemic heart disease, osteoarthritis, depression, back pain, chronic headaches, or diabetes

You may not qualify if…

• Over the age of 80
• Incapable of completing the questionnaires, either due to cognitive impairment or lack of English-literacy

Where it is running

• Walter Reed National Medical Military Center (WRNMMC) — Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.