An interventional study of ContextCare-assisted discharge communication and Standard discharge communication in Patient Discharge and Health Literacy, sponsored by Scarborough Health Network. Recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-22.
Sponsored by Scarborough Health Network · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
This randomized pilot study will compare standard hospital discharge communication with discharge summaries simplified using ContextCare, an artificial intelligence-assisted application. The study will enroll 50 adults discharged from Scarborough Health Network. Participants will be assigned to one of two groups in a 1:1 ratio, with allocation stratified by baseline health literacy. The main measure is how well participants explain their diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, and instructions for seeking further help immediately after receiving discharge information. The study will also assess satisfaction, recall after discharge, and selected post-discharge outcomes.
ContextCare produces plain-language discharge instructions from de-identified hospital discharge summaries and adapts the output to the participant's preferred language and information format. Participants in the intervention group receive ContextCare-assisted discharge communication; control participants receive the standard verbal and printed hospital discharge instructions. All participants complete an immediate teach-back assessment across diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, and return instructions. Baseline health literacy is measured using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS).
The randomized phase follows application development and an internal workflow pilot involving approximately 10 patients. During the workflow pilot, generated summaries are reviewed only by study staff and are not provided to patients or used in clinical care. Workflow pilot data are excluded from the randomized trial analysis; the enrollment target of 50 applies to the randomized phase.
Discharge and teach-back interactions may be video recorded with consent to support independent scoring. The study is open label, with no masking. Statistical analyses compare comprehension between groups and examine the interaction between discharge communication type and baseline health literacy. Qualitative feedback will be analyzed thematically.
201 studies on the registry are indexed under Literacy; 69 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 52 is below the median of 124 across 170 interventional studies indexed under Literacy.
Browse Literacy studies →This is the only study on the registry with Scarborough Health Network as lead sponsor.
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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:
Participants receive AI-simplified discharge instructions generated using ContextCare, tailored to their preferred language and information format, with optional audio and an interactive chat function.
Behavioral: ContextCare-assisted discharge communication
Participants receive the standard hospital discharge process, consisting of verbal and printed discharge instructions from hospital staff.
Behavioral: Standard discharge communication
De-identified discharge summaries are processed by ContextCare using large language models to simplify medical language and organize information under care plan, medications, follow-up appointments, and when to seek help. Output is tailored by language and preferred format and may include audio and interactive follow-up questions.
Routine verbal explanation and printed hospital discharge instructions provided by hospital staff.
Patient comprehension of discharge instructions: total teach-back score
Participants explain their diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, and return instructions in their own words. Each of the four domains is scored from 1 (no comprehension) to 4 (complete comprehension). The total score ranges from 4 to 16, with higher scores indicating better comprehension.
Time frame: Immediately after discharge instructions are provided
Patient satisfaction with discharge communication
Participants answer: How clear and helpful was the discharge information you received? Responses range from 1 (not at all clear) to 5 (extremely clear), with higher scores indicating greater perceived clarity and helpfulness.
Time frame: Immediately after the teach-back assessment at discharge
Recall of discharge information
Recall of discharge information is assessed by a follow-up telephone call or an in-person check.
Time frame: 24 to 48 hours after discharge
Hospital readmission
Hospital readmission within 30 days after discharge.
Time frame: Within 30 days after discharge
Baseline health literacy: Newest Vital Sign (NVS)
Health literacy is assessed using a nutrition label and six questions. Scores range from 0 to 6: 0 to 1 indicates a high likelihood of limited literacy, 2 to 3 indicates possible limited literacy, and 4 to 6 indicates adequate literacy. Baseline health literacy is used for stratification and assessment of its association with comprehension.
Time frame: Before discharge communication and the teach-back assessment
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No — All data will be analyzed and presented in aggregate.
Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Oct 2026, 2 months after the start.
Of 115 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Literacy, half reached primary completion within 11 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 20. This study's planned 2 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 117 studies reached it within 11 months; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 19.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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