Acute Congestive Heart Failure, Exacerbation of COPD, Fractures, Osteomyelitis, Pneumonia
Conditions
Keywords
hospital at home, radiology at home, frail elderly
Brief summary
Aim of the study is to assess feasibility and safety of a public territorial radiology service for home hospitalized frail elderly patients whose health conditions discourage the transportation to hospital.
Interventions
RADIATIONHome X-rays
X-rays examinations performed at home
RADIATIONX-rays in hospital
Sponsors
FondazioneCRT
Azienda Ospedaliera San Giovanni Battista
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* immobilization or chairbound, * need for chest, pelvis/hips, joints, upper and lower limbs, hands and feet X-rays, * absence of definite delirium at enrollment according to the Confusion Assessment Method, and * intermediate or high risk of delirium according to the criteria of Inouye.
Exclusion criteria
* need of urgent examination (within 24 hours), * need of X-ray examinations not suitable at home.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Comparison of episodes of delirium related to the radiological procedure at home and in hospital, using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) | 24 hours after the radiological procedure | Frail patients, especially old ones,often develop delirium or confusion when moved from their usual environment. In home-hospitalized patients with the same risk of developing delirium, according to the Inouye's criteria, we evaluated the onset of a confusional status after X-rays performed at home or in hospital |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation of direct and indirect costs of the radiological procedures performed at home or in hospital | 1 year | Evaluation of costs includes: costs for transportation, ambulance, equipment (eg, processing costs), materials (eg, CD), technical staff (eg, radiographers, radiologists); for the control group: costs for working time employed by family members and health staff to bring patients to hospital for X.ray examination |
| Satisfaction of patients and/or families | within 1 month after the procedure | Customer satisfaction is evaluated using an ad hoc questionnaire |
Countries
Italy
Outcome results
None listed