No specific disease/health problem is examined. The symptom checker can be used for various symptoms. Patients who present to the emergency department because of an acute problem are examined.
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: Patients do not receive a symptom checker, are treated (usual care) and complete questionnaires afterwards.
Group 2: Patients use a symptom checker and enter their symptoms, are treated and s
Sponsors
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute for Medical Informatics and Service Unit IT Medical Data Science
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Self-presentation at one of the participating emergency departments or the KV practice; Non-urgent triage level (MTS 3 to 5); German- or English speaking
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Arrived at emergency department by admission or medical transport; Isolation necessary; Treatment without waiting time or patients whose participation in the study would delay treatment; Patients who are being cared for by another department of the hospital without physician contact in the emergency department; Refusal to participate in the study; Inability to give consent; Patients who would be unable to use a phone or tablet based on the assessment of on-site study personnel or self-assessment (e.g., mental or physical limitation); Patients who used a symptom checker to obtain information about their current symptoms before visiting the emergency room.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Satisfaction of patients with the physician encounter (measured with the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire III). Time of measurement: After treatment in the emergency room. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Degree of anxiety (Visual Analogue Anxiety Scale). Time of measurement: after treatment in the emergency room, and before and after use of the symptom checker. 2. Assessments of care efficiency and doctor-patient communication (unvalidated questionnaire items from Martin et al. study). Time of measurement: after treatment in the emergency room. Assessment of the study subjects and the treating physicians. 3. Usability (System Usability Scale). Time of measurement: After symptom checker use, before treatment (in the intervention group). 4. Subjective evaluation of the symptom checker's usefulness. Measured using unvalidated items. Time of measurement: after treatment in the emergency room. Measured only in patients in the control group. 5. Patient satisfaction with the care received (ZUF-8 Fragebogen zur Patientenzufriedenheit). Measured before leaving the emergency department or KV praxis and after the patient-physician encounter. 6. Satisfaction of physicians with the patient-phyiscian encounter (Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire III - Provider version). Measured after the initial patient-physician encounter. 7. Physicians' assessment of the utility the symptom checker provides to the patients. Measured with unvalidated items. Measured after the initial patient-physician encounter. 8. Trust in the physician (trust scale of the Cologne Patient Questionnaire). Measure after the patient-physician encounter. | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactMartin Möckel
Charité Universitätsmedizin BerlinNotfall- und Akutmedizin (CVK, CCM)
Outcome results
None listed