Remote-by-Default Care in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Completed

• Conditions: COVID-19

• Registration Number: NCT04435041
• Lead Sponsor: University of Oxford

Brief Summary

18 month study, funded by ESRC COVID-19 research fund. The aim is to explore and support the rapid shift from face-to-face to remote (telephone and video) conversations in primary care. There are three components: a study of clinical interactions and decision making (micro); four locality-based organisational case studies of new models of care (meso); abd a a study of how digital innovation can support NHS infrastructure and vice versa (macro).

Detailed Description

18 month study, funded by ESRC COVID-19 research fund. The aim is to explore and support the rapid shift from face-to-face to remote (telephone and video) conversations in primary care. There are three components: a study of clinical interactions and decision making (micro); four locality-based organisational case studies of new models of care (meso); abd a a study of how digital innovation can support NHS infrastructure and vice versa (macro). The methods are mainly qualitative (interviews, virtual ethnography, analysis of documents, micro-analysis of conversations) and are designed to inform action research.

Key deliverables:

At least two evidence-based assessment tools: qualitative (questions for remote assessment of breathlessness) and quantitative (a COVID-19-specific early warning score)

Transferable lessons about how to achieve rapid spread and scale-up, spread in real time through our extensive intersectoral networks

Strengthened infrastructure for supporting digital innovation in the NHS

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2020-05
• Study Start: 2020-05-13
• Study First Submitted: 2020-06-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-06-16
• Study First Posted: 2020-06-17
• Primary Completion: 2021-07-27
• Study Completion: 2022-02-28
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-03-31
• Last Update Posted: 2022-04-11

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 103

Inclusion Criteria

• Inclusion criteria for interviews

Willing and able to give informed consent for participation

Aged 18 years or above

Staff involved in delivering remote-by-default services in the frontline or 'back offices'

Patients/carers who have crossed paths with primary care services during the Covid pandemic.

Pharmacy case studies:

Staff involved in delivering remote pharmacist consultation services in the frontline or 'back offices'

Patients/carers who have crossed paths with community pharmacy primary care services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inclusion criteria for video and telephone consultations

Patients who have remote primary care consultation regarding symptoms associated with COVID-19 and their clinicians (based in Oxford/Thames Valley) who have agreed to participate in the study

Inclusion criteria for focus groups

Patients that have experienced self-reported 'long Covid' symptoms (for patient only focus groups)

Clinicians that have experienced self-reported 'long Covid' symptoms (for clinician only focus groups)

Exclusion Criteria

Patients or clinicians who are too ill to be interviewed

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Remote COVID-19 Assessment in Primary Care (RECAP) Early warning score	18 months	A set of questions and a predictive tool built into electronic records, designed to distinguish people with suspected covid-19 who need to go to hospital from those who can safely be monitored at home. The final Remote COVID-19 Assessment in Primary Care (RECAP) Early warning score score divides people into 'green' (stay at home, self-monitor), amber (professional monitoring e.g., via virtual wards with home oximetry), or red (assess in person promptly).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Oxford; 🇬🇧 Oxford, United Kingdom