Loading clinical trials...
Loading clinical trials...
Discover 19,692 clinical trials near Illinois. Find research studies in your area.
Showing 18261-18280 of 19,692 trials
NCT00101868
The transition from hospital to home is a high-risk period in a patient's illness. Poor communication between healthcare providers at hospital discharge is common and contributes to adverse events affecting patients after discharge. The importance of good communication at discharge will increase as more primary care providers delegate inpatient care to hospitalists. Any process that improves information transfer among providers at discharge might improve the health and safety of patients discharged from U.S. hospitals each year, and to appreciably reduce unnecessary healthcare expenditures. Information transfer among healthcare providers and their patients can be undermined because of inaccuracies, omissions, illegibility, logistical failure (e.g., information is never delivered), and delays in generation (i.e., dictation or transcription) or transmission. Root causes include recall error, increased physician workloads, interface failures (e.g., physician-clerical) and poor training of physicians in the discharge process. Many of the deficiencies in the current process of information transfer at hospital discharge could be effectively addressed by the application of information technology. The proposed study will measure the value of a software application to facilitate information transfer at hospital discharge. The study is designed to compare the benefits of discharge health information technology versus usual care in high-risk patients recently discharged from acute care hospitalization. The design is a randomized, single-blind, controlled trial. The outcomes are readmission within 6 months, adverse events, and effectiveness and satisfaction with the discharge process from the patient and physician perspectives. The cost outcome is the physician time required to use the discharge software.
NCT00246909
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a medical condition affecting the stomach and esophagus. GERD occurs when the lower esophageal sphincter does not close properly and stomach contents leaks back (refluxes) into the esophagus. GERD is one of the most common medical disorders, with estimates of up to 50% of adults reporting reflux symptoms daily. Proton pump inhibitors such as pantoprazole can relieve symptoms of GERD in a large proportion of patients. Of particular interest in GERD is the assessment of symptom severity and quality of life, and the response of these parameters to treatment. Therefore, a questionnaire to assess GERD symptoms was developed (ReQuest TradeMark). An important point to consider when using such a questionnaire is to evaluate whether an observed difference in scores after a certain treatment represents a clinical effect. The aim of this study is to determine the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in patients diagnosed with GERD. During the study, the patients will complete a patient-orientated, self-assessed reflux questionnaire (ReQuest TradeMark). Endoscopy will be performed at the start of the study. The study duration consists of a baseline period (1 to 3 weeks) and a treatment period (8 weeks). During the first treatment week, the patients will receive either pantoprazole (tablet) or placebo once daily in the morning; for the following 7 treatment weeks all patients will receive pantoprazole. The study will provide further data on safety and tolerability of pantoprazole.