Wahlberg 2013.

Trial name or title	Practical health co‐operation ‐ the impact of a referral template on quality of care and health care co‐operation: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
Methods	Cluster‐randomised controlled trial
Participants	Unit of randomisation: 14 general practitioner offices (in an area primarily served by the same University Hospital) Unit of analysis: patients referred from general practices to hospital care for dyspepsia or suspected colonic malignancy or chest pain or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or suspected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Interventions	Intervention: implementation of a referral template for the referral pathway from general practice to hospital care Control: standard referral practice
Outcomes	Primary: Quality indicator score (generated from previous international quality assessment tools and national and international treatment guidelines and adapted to locally accepted practice) Secondary: Quality of the referrals Health process outcomes (waiting time from referral to appointment, number of appointments before a diagnosis is reached, time before treatment is initiated, application or not of appointment prioritisation and the outcome of any given referral (appointment, return information or referral rejected)
Starting date	September 2011.
Contact information	Henrik Wåhlberg (henrik.wahlberg2@unn.no; henrik.wahlberg@uit.no), Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, and University Hospital of North Norway Harstad, St. Olavsgate 70, 9480, Harstad, Norway
Notes	Trial registration number in ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01470963