None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Patients referred to the community rehabilitation programs (CRPs) at the Peter James Centre (PJC) and Wantirna Health (WH) have traditionally been placed on a waiting list and given a triage category, which guides clinicians as to who should be seen first when demand exceeds supply. This study is trialling an alternative model of triage within the orthopaedic team at the PJC CRP in which all patients are seen for a face to face assessment soon after referral, with a subsequent decision on priority and patient management made by the treating clinician. The aim of the trial is to compare the outcomes with the traditional model at WH, and determine whether the new model improves waiting times without negatively impacting on the quality of service received, patient outcomes or staff and patient satisfaction
Interventions
Many community rehabilitation programs manage access by placing patients on waiting lists, with clinicians taking on new pateints as appointments become available. Triage categories are often assigned to guide clinicians as to who should be seen first.
This trial aims to evaluate an alternative model, in which all patients receive a face to face assessment within a few days of referral, through the use of protected assessment appointments. Clinicians then take responsibility for triaging patie
Many community rehabilitation programs manage access by placing patients on waiting lists, with clinicians taking on new pateints as appointments become available. Triage categories are often assigned to guide clinicians as to who should be seen first. This trial aims to evaluate an alternative model, in which all patients receive a face to face assessment within a few days of referral, through the use of protected assessment appointments. Clinicians then take responsibility for triaging patient needs within their own clinical caseload. The new model will be trialled for all new referrals received over a 6 month period.
Sponsors
Eastern Health
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Patients referred to community rehabilition program at either Peter James Centre (all patients) or Wantirna Health (orthopaedic patients) from 1st February to July 31st 2011.
Exclusion criteria
Nil for quantitative measures. Qualitative data - patients must be able to converse in English and provide informed consent.
Outcome results
None listed