scholarly journals Early connections: effectiveness of a pre-call intervention to improve immunisation coverage and timeliness

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity Goodyear-Smith ◽  
Cameron Grant ◽  
Tracey Poole ◽  
Helen Petousis-Harris ◽  
Nikki Turner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Newborn Infants ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Immunisation Coverage ◽  
Urban District ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
Coverage Rates

INTRODUCTION: Children who have missed or delayed immunisations are at greater risk of vaccine-preventable diseases and getting their first scheduled dose on time strongly predicts subsequent complete immunisation. Developing a relationship with an infant’s parents and general practice staff soon after birth followed by a systematic approach can reduce the number of delayed first immunisations. AIM: To assess the effectiveness of a general practice–based pre-call intervention to improve immunisation timeliness. METHODS: Clustered controlled trial of general practices in a large urban district randomised to either delivery of pre-call intervention to all babies at aged four weeks or usual care. RESULTS: Immunisation timeliness for infants receiving the primary series of immunisations among their nominated Auckland general practices was higher than expected at 98% for the six week event. The intervention was statistically but not clinically significant. Coverage was significantly lower among infants with no nominated practice which reduced overall coverage rate for the district. DISCUSSION: Pre-call letters with telephone follow-up are simple interventions to introduce into the practice management system and can be easily implemented as usual standard of care. Early identification of newborn infants, primary care engagement and effective systems including tracking of infants not enrolled in general practices has the greatest potential to improve immunisation coverage rates even further. KEYWORDS: Randomized controlled trial; immunization; vaccination; general practice; intervention studies

scholarly journals Evaluation of the General Practice Pharmacist (GPP) intervention to optimise prescribing in Irish primary care: a non-randomised pilot study

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. e035087
Author(s):  
Karen Cardwell ◽  
Susan M Smith ◽  
Barbara Clyne ◽  
Laura McCullagh ◽  
Emma Wallace ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Medication Review ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Practice Team ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Medication Changes

ObjectiveLimited evidence suggests integration of pharmacists into the general practice team could improve medicines management for patients, particularly those with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. This study aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of an intervention involving pharmacists, working within general practices, to optimise prescribing in Ireland.DesignNon-randomised pilot study.SettingPrimary care in Ireland.ParticipantsFour general practices, purposively sampled and recruited to reflect a range of practice sizes and demographic profiles.InterventionA pharmacist joined the practice team for 6 months (10 hours/week) and undertook medication reviews (face to face or chart based) for adult patients, provided prescribing advice, supported clinical audits and facilitated practice-based education.Outcome measuresAnonymised practice-level medication (eg, medication changes) and cost data were collected. Patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) data were collected on a subset of older adults (aged ≥65 years) with polypharmacy using patient questionnaires, before and 6 weeks after medication review by the pharmacist.ResultsAcross four practices, 786 patients were identified as having 1521 prescribing issues by the pharmacists. Issues relating to deprescribing medications were addressed most often by the prescriber (59.8%), compared with cost-related issues (5.8%). Medication changes made during the study equated to approximately €57 000 in cost savings assuming they persisted for 12 months. Ninety-six patients aged ≥65 years with polypharmacy were recruited from the four practices for PROM data collection and 64 (66.7%) were followed up. There were no changes in patients’ treatment burden or attitudes to deprescribing following medication review, and there were conflicting changes in patients’ self-reported quality of life.ConclusionsThis non-randomised pilot study demonstrated that an intervention involving pharmacists, working within general practices is feasible to implement and has potential to improve prescribing quality. This study provides rationale to conduct a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of this intervention.

Problems with Recruitment in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Counselling in General Practice: Causes and Implications

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Fairhurst ◽  
Christopher Dowrick
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Psychiatric Morbidity ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Authority Area ◽  
General Practices

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of counselling in the management of minor psychiatric morbidity in general practice, and to explore the reasons for difficulties in recruiting patients to such an evaluation. Methods: We attempted to conduct a randomized controlled trial of counselling in eight general practices in one NHS family health services authority area in England. Having experienced significant problems recruiting patients, we conducted semi-structured telephone interviews ( n = 8) with participating GPs to explore the reasons for these difficulties. Results: Five months after the start of the study only one patient had been recruited. The main reasons identified as contributing to the recruitment problems were: General practitioners' motivation for involvement in the study; their ethical doubts about the randomization process; the perceived lack of a viable non-counselling intervention; and their existing practical commitment to counselling. Conclusion: Although methodological modification might enhance the potential for success in future studies of this sort, more fundamental difficulties concerning general practitioners' attitudes to research and their professional responsibilities lie at the heart of our recruitment problems.

A chlamydia education and training program for general practice nurses: reporting the effect on chlamydia testing uptake

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Anna Wood ◽  
Sabine Braat ◽  
Meredith Temple-Smith ◽  
Rebecca Lorch ◽  
Alaina Vaisey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Treatment Effect ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Practice Nurses ◽  
Chlamydia Testing ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
General Practices ◽  
And Training

The long-term health consequences of untreated chlamydia are an increased risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancies and infertility among women. To support increased chlamydia testing, and as part of a randomised controlled trial of a chlamydia intervention in general practice, a chlamydia education and training program for general practice nurses (GPN) was developed. The training aimed to increase GPNs’ chlamydia knowledge and management skills. We compared the difference in chlamydia testing between general practices where GPNs received training to those who didn’t and evaluated acceptability. Testing rates increased in all general practices over time. Where GPNs had training, chlamydia testing rates increased (from 8.3% to 19.9% (difference=11.6%; 95% CI 9.4–13.8)) and where GPNs did not have training (from 7.4% to 18.0% (difference=10.6%; 95% CI 7.6–13.6)). By year 2, significantly higher testing rates were seen in practices where GPNs had training (treatment effect=4.9% (1.1 – 8.7)), but this difference was not maintained in year 3 (treatment effect=1.2% (−2.5 – 4.9)). Results suggest a GPN chlamydia education and training program can increase chlamydia testing up to 2 years; however, further training is required to sustain the increase beyond that time.

scholarly journals Strategies for recruitment in general practice settings: the iSOLVE fall prevention pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy C. W. Tan ◽  
Lindy Clemson ◽  
Lynette Mackenzie ◽  
Catherine Sherrington ◽  
Chris Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Fall Prevention ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Recruitment Strategies ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Abstract Background Falls are common among older people, and General Practitioners (GPs) could play an important role in implementing strategies to manage fall risk. Despite this, fall prevention is not a routine activity in general practice settings. The iSOLVE cluster randomised controlled trial aimed to evaluate implementation of a fall prevention decision tool in general practice. This paper sought to describe the strategies used and reflect on the enablers and barriers relevant to successful recruitment of general practices, GPs and their patients. Methods Recruitment was conducted within the geographical area of a Primary Health Network in Northern Sydney, Australia. General practices and GPs were engaged via online surveys, mailed invitations to participate, educational workshops, practitioner networks and promotional practice visits. Patients 65 years or older were recruited via mailed invitations, incorporating the practice letterhead and the name(s) of participating GP(s). Observations of recruitment strategies, results and enabling factors were recorded in field notes as descriptive and narrative data, and analysed using mixed-methods. Results It took 19 months to complete recruitment of 27 general practices, 75 GPs and 560 patients. The multiple strategies used to engage general practices and GPs were collectively useful in reaching the targeted sample size. Practice visits were valuable in engaging GPs and staff, establishing interest in fall prevention and commitment to the trial. A mix of small, medium and large practices were recruited. While some were recruited as a whole-practice, other practices had few or half of the number of GPs recruited. The importance of preventing falls in older patients, simplicity of research design, provision of resources and logistic facilitation of patient recruitment appealed to GPs. Recruitment of older patients was successfully achieved by mailed invitations which was a strategy that was familiar to practice staff and patients. Patient response rates were above the expected 10% for most practices. Many practices (n = 17) achieved the targeted number of 20 or more patients. Conclusions Recruitment in general practice settings can be successfully achieved through multiple recruitment strategies, effective communication and rapport building, ensuring research topic and design suit general practice needs, and using familiar communication strategies to engage patients. Trial registration The trial was prospectively registered on 29 April 2015 with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry www.anzctr.org.au (trial ID: ACTRN12615000401550).

scholarly journals IMPROVEjob – Participatory intervention to improve job satisfaction of general practice teams: a model for structural and behavioural prevention in small and medium-sized enterprises – a study protocol of a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Trials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgitta M. Weltermann ◽  
◽  
Christine Kersting ◽  
Claudia Pieper ◽  
Tanja Seifried-Dübon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Stress Prevention ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
Implementation Period ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Abstract Background Perceived high chronic stress is twice as prevalent among German general practitioners (GPs) and non-physician medical staff compared to the general population. The reasons are multi-factorial and include patient, practice, healthcare system and societal factors, such as multi-morbidity, the diversity of populations and innovations in medical care. Also, practice-related factors, like stressful patient-staff interactions, poor process management of waiting times and lack of leadership, play a role. This publicly funded study evaluates the effectiveness of the newly developed participatory, interdisciplinary, and multimodal IMPROVEjob intervention on improving job satisfaction among general practice personnel. The intervention aims at structural stress prevention with regard to working conditions and behavioural stress prevention for leaders and other practice personnel. Methods In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, a total of 56 general practices will be assigned to either (1) participation in the IMPROVEjob intervention or (2) the waiting-list control group. The IMPROVEjob intervention consists of the following elements: three workshops, a toolbox with supplemental material and an implementation period with regular contact to so-called IMPROVEjob facilitators. The first workshop, addressing leadership issues, is designed for physicians with leadership responsibilities only. The two subsequent workshops target all GP and non-physician personnel; they address issues of communication (with patients and within the team), self-care and team-care and practice organisation. During the 9-month implementation period, practices will be contacted by IMPROVEjob facilitators to enhance motivation. Additionally, the practices will have access to the toolbox materials online. All participants will complete questionnaires at baseline and follow up. The primary outcome is the change in job satisfaction as measured by the respective scale of the validated German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ, version 2018). Secondary outcomes obtained by questionnaires and - qualitatively - by facilitators comprise psychosocial working conditions including leadership aspects, expectations and experiences of the workshops, team and individual efforts and organisational changes. Discussion It is hypothesised that participation in the IMPROVEjob intervention will improve job satisfaction and thus constitute a structural and behavioural prevention strategy for the promotion of psychological wellbeing of personnel in general practices and prospectively in other small and medium sized enterprises. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00012677. Registered on 16 October 2019. Retrospectively, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial. HTML&TRIAL_ID = DRKS00012677.

scholarly journals Discontinuation of a randomised controlled trial in general practice due to unsuccessful patient recruitment

BJGP Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. bjgpopen17X101085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendelien H van der Gaag ◽  
Roxanne van den Berg ◽  
Bart W Koes ◽  
Arthur M Bohnen ◽  
Lonny MG Hazen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Patient Recruitment ◽  
Recruitment Process ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Acute Sciatica

BackgroundA randomised controlled trial (RCT) in general practice, recruiting incident patients with (sub)acute sciatica, was discontinued because of insufficient recruitment.AimTo describe factors that influenced the recruitment process and ultimately led to discontinuation of this trial, and to enable others to learn from this experience.Design & settingA pragmatic RCT was designed to compare two pain medication prescription strategies for treatment of (sub)acute sciatica in general practice. After 1 year of patient recruitment, the trial was prematurely terminated.MethodTo analyse the underperforming recruitment, patient information systems of 20 general practices were screened twice a month to search for eligible patients and identify reasons for non-eligibility. Secondly, after study termination, an open question was distributed to the participating GPs for their views on the recruitment process.ResultsA total of 116 GPs from 37 general practices collaborated in the trial. Only eight of 234 patients were included after 12 months. The 22 GPs who offered their opinion on the main reasons for unsuccessful recruitment considered that these were the low incidence rate and strict eligibility criteria, a strong patient and/or GP preference, and time constraints.ConclusionFor this RCT, multiple factors were related to recruitment problems but it remains unknown which determinants prevailed. As the research question is unanswered but remains relevant, it is recommended that GPs’ daily practice is taken into account when designing an RCT, a pilot study should be performed for feasibility of recruitment, and GP assistants should be involved at an early stage.

scholarly journals The SMARTscreen Trial: a randomised controlled trial investigating the efficacy of a GP-endorsed narrative SMS to increase participation in the Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program

Trials ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wood ◽  
Jon D. Emery ◽  
Mark Jenkins ◽  
Patty Chondros ◽  
Tina Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Screening Program ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cancer Screening Program ◽  
Sms Intervention ◽  
Bowel Cancer Screening ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Abstract Background Increasing participation in the Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) is the most efficient and cost-effective way of reducing mortality associated with colorectal cancer by detecting and treating early-stage disease. Currently, only 44% of Australians aged 50–74 years complete the NBCSP. This efficacy trial aims to test whether this SMS intervention is an effective method for increasing participation in the NBCSP. Furthermore, a process evaluation will explore the barriers and facilitators to sending the SMS from general practice. Methods We will recruit 20 general practices in the western region of Victoria, Australia to participate in a cluster randomised controlled trial. General practices will be randomly allocated with a 1:1 ratio to either a control or intervention group. Established general practice software will be used to identify patients aged 50 to 60 years old who are due to receive a NBCSP kit in the next month. The SMS intervention includes GP endorsement and links to narrative messages about the benefits of and instructions on how to complete the NBCSP kit. It will be sent from intervention general practices to eligible patients prior to receiving the NBCSP kit. We require 1400 eligible patients to provide 80% power with a two-sided 5% significance level to detect a 10% increase in CRC screening participation in the intervention group compared to the control group. Our primary outcome is the difference in the proportion of eligible patients who completed a faecal occult blood test (FOBT) between the intervention and control group for up to 12 months after the SMS was sent, as recorded in their electronic medical record (EMR). A process evaluation using interview data collected from general practice staff (GP, practice managers, nurses) and patients will explore the feasibility and acceptability of sending and receiving a SMS to prompt completing a NBCSP kit. Discussion This efficacy trial will provide initial trial evidence of the utility of an SMS narrative intervention to increase participation in the NBCSP. The results will inform decisions about the need for and design of a larger, multi-state trial of this SMS intervention to determine its cost-effectiveness and future implementation. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620001020976. Registered on 17 October 2020.

scholarly journals IMPROVEjob – Participatory intervention to improve job satisfaction of general practice teams: A model for structural and behavioural prevention in small and medium-sized enterprises – a study protocol of a cluster-randomised controlled trial

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgitta M. Weltermann ◽  
Christine Kersting ◽  
Claudia Pieper ◽  
Tanja Seifried-Dübon ◽  
Annegret Dreher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Stress Prevention ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
Implementation Period ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Abstract Background: Perceived high chronic stress is twice as high prevalent among German general practitioners (GP) and non-physician medical staff compared to the general population. The reasons are multi-factorial and include patient, practice, health-care system and societal factors, such as multi-morbidity, the diversity of populations, and innovations in medical care. Also, practice-related factors like stressful patient-staff interactions, poor process management with waiting times, and lack of leadership play a role. This publicly funded study evaluates the effectiveness of the newly developed participatory, interdisciplinary, and multimodal IMPROVEjob intervention on job satisfaction among general practice personnel. The intervention aims at structural stress prevention with regard to working conditions and behavioural stress prevention for leaders and other practice personnel.Methods: In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, a total of 56 general practices will be assigned to either (1) participation in the IMPROVEjob intervention for nine months or (2) the waiting-list control group. The IMPROVEjob intervention consists of the following elements: three workshops, a toolbox with supplemental material, and an implementation period with regular contact to so-called IMPROVEjob facilitators. The first workshop, addressing leadership issues, is designed for physicians with leadership responsibilities only. The two subsequent workshops target all GP and non-physician personnel; they address issues regarding communication (with patients and within the team), self- and team-care as well as practice organisation. During the nine-month implementation period, practices will be contacted by IMPROVEjob facilitators to enhance motivation. Additionally, the practices will have access to the toolbox materials online. At baseline and follow-up, all participants will complete questionnaires. The primary outcome is the change in job satisfaction as measured with the respective scale of the validated German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ, version 2018). Secondary outcomes obtained by questionnaires and – qualitatively – by facilitators comprise psychosocial working conditions including leadership aspects, expectations regarding and experiences with the workshops, team and individual efforts, and organisational changes.Discussion: It is hypothesised that participation in the IMPROVEjob intervention will improve job satisfaction and thus constitute a structural and behavioural prevention strategy for the promotion of psychological well-being of personnel in general practices and prospectively in other small- and medium-sized enterprises.Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00012677. Registered 16 October 2019-Retrospectively, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.donavigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00012677.

Achieving high immunisation rates amongst children in the Australian Capital Territory: a collaborative effort

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony M. Moore ◽  
Sandra Burgess ◽  
Hailey Shaw ◽  
Carolyn Banks ◽  
Irene Passaris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Vaccine Delivery ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Australian Capital Territory ◽  
Immunisation Coverage ◽  
Childhood Immunisation ◽  
Australian Capital ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Coverage Rates

Background. In September 2008 the ACT achieved the highest childhood coverage rates in Australia with rates of 93.5% (12–15-month age cohort), 94.9% (24–27-month age cohort) and 90.58% (60–63-month age cohort). Purpose. To analyse the key contributing factors and policy initiatives that have likely to have led to high childhood immunisation rates in the ACT. Methods. Data used in this report were sourced from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) held at Medicare Australia, General Practice Immunisation Incentives (GPII) ‘calculation’ data held at ACT Division of General Practice and internal immunisation databases held at Health Protection Service. Outcomes. Although the reasons for the high coverage rates seen in children are multi factorial (including national and consumer factors), key reasons locally in the ACT include: (a) the implementation of an ACT-wide immunisation strategy; (b) proactive follow up of children overdue for immunisation; (c) more sustainable provision of immunisation services across both public and private health providers; and (d) a centralised vaccine delivery service and ‘cold chain’ monitoring system. Conclusions. Although nationwide immunisation policy has been successful in increasing childhood coverage rates across all Australian jurisdictions, it is important to also acknowledge local factors that have likely to have contributed to the successful implementation of the Immunise Australia Program at the coal face. What is known about the topic? Childhood immunisation rates have risen significantly in Australia since the mid 1990s following a plethora of initiatives at both a national and state and territory level. This article examines in depth the various factors over the past decade that have likely to have contributed to the high childhood immunisation rates currently seen in the Australian Capital Territory What does this paper add? The ACT changed its strategic thinking towards immunisation provision in 2004 with an increased focus on immunisation delivery in general practice. Immunisation coverage rates improved in the ACT between 2005 and 2008 with general practice increasing their contribution to immunisation provision from 35 to 57% during this time period. This was despite of a drop in full-time equivalent general practices (GPs) in the ACT between 2003 and 2008. At face value the initial decision to increase immunisation provision through general practice in the face of a dwindling GP workforce appeared counter intuitive. What this article illustrates is the importance of having the right mix and proportion of providers delivering immunisation (public clinics v. general practice) as well as having well resourced support systems for vaccine delivery, provider education and data analysis. More importantly this paper illustrates that any disruption in any component of immunisation provision is likely to have a negative effect on coverage rates (examples provided in the article). What are the implications for practitioners? Achieving high immunisation in the ACT has been a collaborative effort by a range of immunisation stakeholders. These groups have formed strong partnerships to raise awareness of the value of immunisation and the importance of receiving vaccinations at the correct time. It is this collective effort across the health portfolio that is likely to have contributed to the ACT achieving high immunisation coverage rates amongst children. It is important for immunisation practitioners to retain strong professional networks with clear delineation of roles in order to maintain high immunisation rates. Such networks must also be adequately prepared for challenges on the horizon (i.e. change in government policy, loss of personnel, change in consumer attitudes towards immunisation, etc.) that may pose a threat towards high immunisation rates.

scholarly journals The SMARTscreen Trial: A Randomised Controlled Trial Investigating The Efficacy of a GP-Endorsed Narrative SMS To Increase Participation in The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wood ◽  
Jon David Emery ◽  
Mark Jenkins ◽  
Patty Chondros ◽  
Tina Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Screening Program ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cancer Screening Program ◽  
Sms Intervention ◽  
Bowel Cancer Screening ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Abstract Background: Increasing participation in the Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) is the most efficient and cost-effective way of reducing mortality associated with colorectal cancer by detecting and treating early-stage disease. Currently only 44% of Australians aged 50 -74 years complete the NBCSP. This efficacy trial aims to test whether this SMS intervention is an effective method for increasing participation in the NBCSP. Furthermore, a process evaluation will explore the barriers and facilitators to sending the SMS from general practice.Methods: We will recruit 20 general practices in the western region of Victoria, Australia to participate in a cluster randomised controlled trial. General practices will be randomly allocated with a 1:1 ratio to either a control or intervention group. Established general practice software will be used to identify patients aged 50 to 60 years old who are due to receive a NBCSP kit in the next month. The SMS intervention includes GP endorsement and links to narratives messages about the benefits of and instructions on how to complete the NBCSP kit. It will be sent from intervention general practices to eligible patients prior to receiving the NBCSP kit. We require 1400 eligible patients to provide 80% power with two-sided 5% significance level to detect a 10% increase in CRC screening participation in the intervention group compared to control group. Our primary outcome is the difference in the proportion of eligible patients who completed a faecal occult blood test (FOBT) between the intervention and control group for up to twelve months after the SMS was sent, as recorded in their electronic medical record (EMR). A process evaluation using interview data collected from general practice staff (GP, practice managers, nurses) and patients will explore the feasibility and acceptability of sending and receiving a SMS to prompt completing a NBCSP kit.Discussion: This efficacy trial will provide initial trial evidence of the utility of an SMS narrative intervention to increase participation in the NBCSP. The results will inform decisions about the need for and design of a larger, multi-state trial of this SMS intervention to determine its cost-effectiveness and future implementationTrial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12620001020976, 17th October 2020

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document