MedPath

Satellite-supplementation of Medical Outreach Clinics: a Feasibility Study

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Telemedicine
Primary Health Care
Developing Countries
Diagnosis
Therapeutics
Interventions
Other: Telemedicine
Other: In-person physician interaction
Registration Number
NCT01821014
Lead Sponsor
Mayo Clinic
Brief Summary

Much of the basic general medical care and chronic disease management in rural Honduras comes from groups of volunteers setting up temporary clinics run by volunteers. These clinics, also known as brigades, or medical missions, are often criticized for their lack of quality and the lack of follow-up, both of which stem, in part, from understaffing with volunteer physicians. This study is designed to assess if it is feasible, safe, and acceptable to treat patients in short-term mobile medical clinics in rural Honduras using US physicians connected with patients by videoconference.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
144
Inclusion Criteria
  • Able to give informed consent
  • Non-emergent medical complaints
  • At least 18 yrs in age
Exclusion Criteria
  • Pregnancy
  • Mental Disability

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Telemedicine FirstTelemedicinePatients whose first physician visit during the clinic was using videoconference, a form of telemedicine, and whose second physician visit during the clinic was with a physician in-person.
Telemedicine FirstIn-person physician interactionPatients whose first physician visit during the clinic was using videoconference, a form of telemedicine, and whose second physician visit during the clinic was with a physician in-person.
Telemedicine SecondTelemedicinePatients whose first physician visit during the clinic was with a physician in-person, and whose second physician visit during the clinic was using videoconference, a form of telemedicine. This is the reverse order of visits of the "Telemedicine fist" arm.
Telemedicine SecondIn-person physician interactionPatients whose first physician visit during the clinic was with a physician in-person, and whose second physician visit during the clinic was using videoconference, a form of telemedicine. This is the reverse order of visits of the "Telemedicine fist" arm.
Two physician visitsIn-person physician interactionPatients who had two sequential visits with different in-person physicians.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Clinical DiagnosesSame Day as clinic visit (less than 6 hours)

The diagnoses resulting from the two physician visits will be compared and a cohen's kappa statistic will be calculated for diagnoses between the visits.

Recommended clinical treatmentsSame Day as clinic visit (less than 6 hours)

After each of a patient's two physician visits, the physician's resulting recommended treatments will be gathered for comparison between the two visits.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Patient opinions of physician interactionsImmediately following physician interactions (less than 6 hours)

Patients will receive a survey following each interaction with a doctor. These surveys cover communication, comfort and satisfaction.

Volunteer opinions of physician-patient interactionsimmediately following experience with the clinic (Less than 48 hours)

Volunteers who helped with physician interactions will receive a survey about their experience concerning physician patient communication, volunteer educational value and perceived value of the experience.

Physician opinions of patient interactionsimmediately following volunteer activities with the clinic (less than 48 hours)

doctors will fill out a survey about their patient interactions after they complete their experience volunteering with the clinic.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Global Brigades

🇭🇳

Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazan, Honduras

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath