Who Contributes to the Ordering of CT Scans in Emergency Department Patients?

Who Contributes to the Ordering of Computed Tomography in Emergency Department Patients? A Prospective Survey Study

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02040896

Enrollment

1500

Registered

2014-01-20

Start date

2014-01-31

Completion date

2015-01-31

Last updated

2020-03-27

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

Conditions

Emergency

Keywords

computed tomography, emergency, CT scan, ordering behavior, diagnosis, radiation

Brief summary

The primary objectives are: 1. To investigate which healthcare workers and other individuals contribute to the decision to order computed tomography (CT) scans for emergency department (ED) patients. 2. To investigate the specific reasons healthcare workers and other individuals order or request CT scans for ED patients. 3. To determine the frequency of clinically important actions following CT scan results. Once the drivers of ED CT utilization are identified, interventions including education, incentives for compliance with evidence-based best practices, and interventions for noncompliance could be targeted appropriately.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

\- Patients from age 0 to \<17 years, and patients age 18 years and older with traumatic and non-traumatic presentations, who visit Adult and Pediatric EDs and receive a CT scan during their ED visit

Exclusion criteria

* Patients older than 17, yet younger then 18. * Patients who are unable to consent and who do not have a legally authorized representative.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
CT scans utilization	January 2014 - January 2015	Results will be categorized by body region of CT and patient age. For each CT region and age category, the percentage of CT scans requested by each demographic group (e.g., patient, emergency physician, etc.), will be reported, with 95% confidence intervals. CTs not requested by emergency physicians, the percentage of each type of scan requested by each demographic group will be reported, with 95% confidence intervals.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Abnormal vs. normal CT scans	January 2014 - January 2015	The frequency of abnormal CT results and clinical interventions will be calculated, for CTs requested by emergency physicians and for those not requested by emergency physicians (this includes all other parties).

Countries

United States

Outcome results