Dudas 2001.

Methods	DETAILS OF STUDY AIM OF INTERVENTION: A mechanism that may improve patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes at the time of discharge is the use of follow‐up telephone calls. AIM OF STUDY: whether pharmacist involved in discharge planning can improve patient satisfaction and outcomes by providing telephone follow‐up after hospital discharge. STUDY DESIGN: CCT. METHODS OF RECRUITMENT OF PARTICIPANTS: all patients admitted within a 1 year period, who received a pharmacy‐facilitated discharge (= provision of patient counseling on all discharge medications, assistance in obtaining medications and completing insurance forms) and are discharged home. INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN STUDY: Patients from a general medical service discharged home with a pharmacy‐facilitated discharge EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN STUDY: discharged to nursing home or other care facility/ homeless/ non‐English speaker/unable to participate in a telephone conversation or complete a written survey INFORMED CONSENT OBTAINED? yes ETHICAL APPROVAL? yes FUNDING: yes ASSESSMENT OF STUDY QUALITY ALLOCATION CONCEALMENT: unclear. EPOC‐ QUALITY CRITERIA 2002: C.high risk of bias. METHOD OF GENERATING RANDOMISATION SCHEDULE: not specified. METHOD OF CONCEALMENT OF ALLOCATION: not specified. BLINDING: ·PARTICIPANTS: no. ·PROVIDER/S: no. ·OUTCOME ASSESSOR/S: no. INTENTION TO TREAT ANALYSIS: yes. BASELINE COMPARABILITY OF INTERVENTION AND CONTROL GROUPS: not stated. STATISTICAL METHODS AND THEIR APPROPRIATENESS: chi‐square/t‐test. CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT: not stated.
Participants	DESCRIPTION: general medical patients. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: USA. SETTING: discharged home from an acute care setting. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: ELIGIBLE: 756. RANDOMISED TO INTERVENTION: 110. RANDOMISED TO CONTROL: 74 . INCLUDED IN ANALYSIS INTERVENTION GROUP: 71. INCLUDED IN ANALYSIS CONTROL GROUP: 74. AGE: RANGE OR MEAN (SD): 55 (19) GENDER (% MALE) 47 ETHNICITY PRINCIPAL HEALTH PROBLEM OR DIAGNOSIS: pneumonia/COPD/asthma/gastroenteritis and many others OTHER HEALTH PROBLEM/S: unclear TREATMENT RECEIVED/RECEIVING: unclear OTHER SOCIAL/DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS: not given
Interventions	DETAILS OF INTERVENTION: within 2 days after discharge patients received a telephone call from a member of the pharmacy service. The content of the call followed a script to ensure consistency. During the call patients were asked how they had been feeling since returning home, if they had any questions regarding follow‐up appointments or the in‐hospital care, if they were able to obtain their medication, if they had experienced any medication related side‐effects, and if they had any other question or concern. DETAILS OF CONTROL: usual care. CO‐INTERVENTION? no. DETAILS OF CO‐INTERVENTIONS: usual care. DELIVERY OF INTERVENTION Frequency: 1. First time at day 2 after discharge. Period: PROVIDERS: pharmacist. INTERVENTION QUALITY: good. FIDELITY/INTEGRITY: yes.
Outcomes	NUMBER OF OUTCOMES: 3 OUTCOME / TOOL / TOOL VALIDATED / METHOD OF ASSESSMENT / TIME OF ASSESSMENT A.Psycho‐social health of patients (uncertainty, anxiety, informational needs, mood, coping, quality of life, social activity, ..): satisfaction / self‐developed / no / questionnaire / 2 and 6 weeks after discharge. B.Physical health of patients (eg. functional status, self‐care, self‐efficacy, independence, ..): C.Other consumer oriented outcomes (eg. treatment adherence, knowledge, adverse events, ..): D. Health service delivery oriented outcomes (eg. hospital readmission, health services utilization, ..): Readmission / hospital record / unclear / status analysis / 4 weeks after discharge. ED‐visits / hospital record / unclear / status analysis / 4 weeks after discharge.
Notes	·CHANGES IN TRIAL PROTOCOL ·CONTACT WITH AUTHOR ·POWER CALCULATION? ·RECORD IF THE STUDY WAS TRANSLATED FROM A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH. ·RECORD IF THE STUDY WAS A DUPLICATE PUBLICATION. Yes (see reference Dudas 2001).
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	B ‐ Unclear