Shesser 1986.

Methods	DETAILS OF STUDY AIM OF INTERVENTION: to increase patient satisfaction and patient compliance. AIM OF STUDY: to describe and quantify the benefit that can be derived from an organized system of follow‐up telephone calls. STUDY DESIGN: CCT. METHODS OF RECRUITMENT OF PARTICIPANTS: During a 10 day period, all patients charts were reviewed and each patient who was discharged home from the ED with one of nine diagnosis was included in the study; included patients then were stratified by disease category and were randomized into two groups. INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN STUDY: Discharged home/ diagnosis of undiagnosed chest pain, undiagnosed abdominal pain, acute infection, vaginal haemorrhage, syncope, acute cervical/lumbar pain, asthma/bronchospasm, allergic reaction, headache. EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN STUDY: not specified. INFORMED CONSENT OBTAINED? no. ETHICAL APPROVAL? unclear. FUNDING: unclear. 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: not stated. BASELINE COMPARABILITY OF INTERVENTION AND CONTROL GROUPS: yes. STATISTICAL METHODS AND THEIR APPROPRIATENESS: chi‐square. CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT: not stated.
Participants	DESCRIPTION: ED patients. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: USA. SETTING: discharged home from an acute care setting. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: ELIGIBLE: 559. RANDOMISED TO INTERVENTION: 297. RANDOMISED TO CONTROL: 94. INCLUDED IN ANALYSIS INTERVENTION GROUP: 83. INCLUDED IN ANALYSIS CONTROL GROUP: 94. AGE: RANGE OR MEAN (SD): 36 (15). GENDER (% MALE): 47. ETHNICITY: unclear. PRINCIPAL HEALTH PROBLEM OR DIAGNOSIS: acute infection (30%), abdominal pain (20%), acute lumbar pain (14%), chest pain (12%), other. OTHER HEALTH PROBLEM/S: not specified. TREATMENT RECEIVED/RECEIVING: unclear. OTHER SOCIAL/DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Interventions	DETAILS OF INTERVENTION: Within 48 to 72 hours after the ED‐visit, attempts were made to call the patients. Calls were made by members of the ED clinical nursing staff. The caller had a copy of the patient's ED chart, and interviewed the patient by following a written scenario that was designed to determine the progression of the patient's symptoms, whether the patient had already sought additional medical consultation, whether the patient eventually would seek follow‐up with the provider recommended by the ED physician and whether the ED instructions for aftercare were clear. DETAILS OF CONTROL: usual care. CO‐INTERVENTION? no. DETAILS OF CO‐INTERVENTIONS: DELIVERY OF INTERVENTION Frequency: 1. First time at day 2‐3 after discharge. Period: PROVIDERS: nurse. INTERVENTION QUALITY: unclear. FIDELITY/INTEGRITY: unclear.
Outcomes	NUMBER OF OUTCOMES: 7 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 / patient satisfaction questionnaire (Shortell 2000) / yes / telephone interview / 1 and 5 weeks after discharge. Mental status / SF‐36 (Ware, 1992) / yes / telephone interview / 1 and 5 weeks after discharge. Social functioning / SF‐36 (Ware, 1992) / yes / telephone interview / 1 and 5 weeks after discharge. B.Physical health of patients (eg. functional status, self‐care, self‐efficacy, independence, ..): Physical functioning / SF‐36 (Ware, 1992) / yes / telephone interview / 1 and 5 weeks after discharge. Symptom distress / Memorial symptom assessment scale (Portenoy 1994) / yes / telephone interview / 1 and 5 weeks after discharge. C.Other consumer oriented outcomes (eg. treatment adherence, knowledge, adverse events, ..): D. Health service delivery oriented outcomes (eg. hospital readmission, health services utilization, ..): Readmission / self‐developed / no / telephone interview / 1 and 5 weeks after discharge. ED‐visits / self‐developed / no / telephone interview / 1 and 5 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.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	B ‐ Unclear