Hearing Impairment, Strategies and Outcomes in VA Emergency Departments
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age60+
SponsorVA Office of Research and Development
About this trial
HearVA involves six VA facility emergency departments (ED) over a 3-year intervention period. The first part of this study will test whether providing personal amplifiers to Veteran ED patients who self-report hearing difficulty is acceptable to these patients, can improve their hearing, enhance understanding of discharge instructions, and can reduce the risk of coming back to the ED in a short period of time (3 days and 30 days). The second part of the study will then identify whether ED staff can implement this program and achieve similar results. The second part will give ED staff increasing levels of responsibility for screening Veterans for hearing difficulty and providing personal amplifiers when such difficulty is detected.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
English speaking
Emergency severity index criterion of 3 (medium), 4, or 5 (low acuity)
Hearing Handicap Inventory-Screen greater than or equal to 10 or positive answer to a single-item screening question
Capacity to consent to participate in research
Disqualifiers
Inability to consent to participate in research
Emergency severity index criterion of 1-2 (high acuity)
Hearing Handicap Inventory-Screen less than 10 and negative answer to single item screening question
Inability to speak English
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Personal Amplifier
Other interventionThe intervention group will receive personal amplifiers (PockeTalkers) while they receive care in the ED
No Personal Amplifier
Other interventionThe control group will not receive personal amplifiers while they receive care in the ED
Treatment groups
1,050 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Intervention: Personal AmplifierExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Control: No Personal AmplifierOther 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Emergency department (ED) 3-day Readmissions
The Investigators will determine whether patients have had an ED revisit within three days through CPRS review as well as a brief follow-up phone call 3-5 days after ED discharge
Time frame
3-5 days after initial ED staySecondary outcomes
1
Emergency department (ED) 30-day Readmissions
The Investigators will determine whether patients have had an ED revisit within 30 days through CPRS review as well as a brief follow-up phone call 30-35 days after ED discharge
Time frame
30-35 days after initial ED stay2
Patient-Rated Quality of Hearing, Understanding, and Communication With Providers During Emergency department (ED) Stay
Participants will self-rate their quality of hearing, understanding, and communication using a six item questionnaire. Scored on a 10-point Likert scale (1 = do not agree at all; 10 = completely agree) the questions will be: When I talked to the doctors and nurses today ... (1) their voices were very clear; (2) I was able to hear the sounds that I wanted to hear; (3) noises did not cause a problem for my hearing; and (4) listening did not make me tired. Two additional statements will explicitly capture understanding: (5) I was able to understand what they said; and (6) I was able to understand without making an effort. Higher scores will indicate better communication and understanding with providers.
Time frame
Duration of ED stay, average of 1 day3
Patient-Rated Quality of Post-Discharge Care
Patient-rated quality of post-discharge care using a three-item subset of the Care Transition Measure (CTM). The questions are scored on a 1-4 scale (1= strongly disagree; 4 = strongly agree): (1) The ED staff considered my preferences and those of my family or caregiver in deciding what my healthcare needs were for discharge; (2) Leaving the ED, I have a good understanding of the things I am responsible for in managing my health; (3) Leaving the ED, I clearly understand the purpose for each of my medications. Higher scores will indicate better discharge preparation.
Time frame
At time of discharge from ED, average 1 day4
Self-Reported Understanding of Discharge Instructions
Investigators will gauge self-reported understanding of discharge instructions using semi-structured interview data compared to documented discharge data.
Time frame
3-5 days after initial ED staySponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
VA Office of Research and Development
Lead sponsor
NYU Langone Health
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov