An observational study in Esophageal Diseases, Peptic Ulcer and Stomach Diseases, sponsored by Norwegian Department of Health and Social Affairs. Completed at 1 site in Norway. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2009-12-30.
Sponsored by Norwegian Department of Health and Social Affairs · Observational
The capacity for endoscopical procedures in the Norwegian health system is low in comparison to demands from patients and family practitioners.
The studies aim is to evaluate the acceptance of a new concept: an open access gastroscopy clinic where patients can attend without a preceding appointment.
The investigators wish to evaluate:
The fact that access to specialized norwegian health care is characterized by a mismatch between system´s capacity and patient´s and refering physician´s demands, leads to delay of diagnostic investigations such as for example gastroscopies. Patients referred to gastroscopies have to wait 4 to 12 weeks to get an appointment. Consequence might be a delay in diagnosing of significant diseases such as ulcers or even malignancies. In addition the general practitioner is frequently forced to start a therapy by suspicion, and the patient has in numerable cases to stay off work.
In September 2008, the investigators started an open-access gastroscopy outpatient clinic, which allows the family practitioners in a defined area of the Telemark county to refer their patients to a gastroscopy without a preceding appointment. Patients from the other parts of the county and those, who need special service as i.e. interpreter, endocarditis prophylaxis etc. are referred conventionally and need an appointment.
Aim of the study is to evaluate the acceptance of both forms of outpatient clinics by both patients and general practitioners. In addition to that, the investigators will evaluate the acceptance of the open access clinic by the staff. Of special concern is the fear, that easier access might lead to a number of unnecessary procedures.
All patients from open access clinic and from the conventional clinic are asked to fill in a questionaire without any kind of personal identifying data such as name, age, date of the procedure etc., but with questions about their satisfaction with the procedure, the time from their first contact with their family practitioner to the procedure, the information prior and after the procedure. They will be asked if they did consume drugs against "ulcer-disease" or not.
In addition the referring practitioners are asked to fill in a questionnaire about their acceptance of the open access clinic, and to give the investigators some ideas about advantages and disadvantages from their point of view.
The staff is asked to give their experience especially according to the not calculable number of patients that attend to the clinic each day.
If the present study shows high acceptance of the open-access-offer by patients and health workers, the plan is to extend it to other patient groups and to perform studies to investigate the effects on the grade of diseases at the time of diagnosis and possible consequences for treatment and health economy.
82 studies on the registry are indexed under Esophageal Diseases; 21 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 213 is below the median of 420 across 26 observational studies indexed under Esophageal Diseases.
Browse Esophageal Diseases studies →Norwegian Department of Health and Social Affairs is the lead sponsor of 9 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Current patients referred to our outpatient gastroscopy clinic
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Patients referred to open access gastroscopy
Other: open access gastroscopy
Gastroscopy after preceding appointment
Other: Gastroscopy by appointment
access to gastroscopy without preceding appointment
Gastroscopy after preceding appointment in a conventional outpatient clinic
Patient´s satisfaction
Time frame: Day of the Gastrocopy
General practitioner´satisfaction
Time frame: One month after enrollment of patients
The record gives a start of Nov 2009, a primary completion of Dec 2009 and a completion of Dec 2009. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2009. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Norwegian Department of Health and Social Affairs