Stories to Educate Patients With Ankle, Foot, and Knee Injuries

Comparative Effectiveness of Descriptive Versus Narrative Emergency Department Discharge Instructions for Patient Education on Unnecessary Testing for Ankle, Foot and Knee Injuries

Status

Withdrawn

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01810523

Enrollment

Registered

2013-03-13

Start date

2013-03-31

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2016-08-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Injury

Keywords

Acute, lower, extremity, not requiring, diagnostic, imaging

Brief summary

Study will test the use of narratives on patient satisfaction and translation of an evidence-based approach to the use of X-rays for leg injuries in the Emergency Department (ED). The investigators will identify patients with foot, ankle, or knee injuries for whom X-rays are determined to not be needed. On discharge, patients will receive the current fact-based sheet or that plus a narrative explaining the work-up and treatment of these injuries. Outcomes will be assessed by a survey measuring patient satisfaction and understanding.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALNarrative

Narrative form as described above.

BEHAVIORALControl

Blank piece of paper

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Acute traumatic knee, ankle or foot injury presenting to ED * No indication for X-ray by Ottawa Rules criteria * ED provider planning to discharge patient

Exclusion criteria

* X-ray obtained * Need for X-ray by established Ottawa Rules criteria * Children * Pregnant women * Patient to be admitted to the hospital * Patient non-English speaking or illiterate

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Patient Satisfaction	5 minutes after intervention	To measure patient satisfaction, we will use a validated survey instrument. The survey asks patients 5 questions, which they answer by providing responses on a 5-point scale ranging from Poor to Excellent. The questions include: 1. My satisfaction with the amount of time spent with me by the person who evaluated and treated me was.... 2. The explanation I received of how my illness should be treated was... 3. The way the health care provider treated me was... 4. My overall satisfaction with my visit was... 5. Your care provider determined that you did not need an X-ray for your injury. What is your level of satisfaction with that decision?

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026