The Patient's First Point of Contact
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Observations to investigate the current practices of communication and decision-making during Nurse-patient consultations.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Nurse-Patient Relations. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Sweden
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
The Patient's First Point of Contact (PINPOINT) - Protocol of a Prospective Multicentre Study of Communication and Decision-making During Patient Assessments by Primary Care Practice Nurses
Overview
The overall objective of this observational study is to investigate practices of communication and decision-making during nurses' initial assessment of patients' health problems in primary care, examine working mechanisms in good practices and develop feasible solutions. The specific aims are: 1. To investigate patients' expectations and experiences with the communication and decision-making during their first contact with a registered nurse (RN) in primary care. 2. To investigate patient-RN communication on the level of patient involvement. 3. To investigate RNs' actual communication, assessments and decision-making, value conflicts and the challenges and strategies they use in prioritizing. 4. To analyse the underlying working mechanisms of good communication practices. 5. To develop methodologies for facilitating efficient processes in assessing, managing, and prioritizing patients in primary care for RNs. Project PINPOINT aims for a prospective multicenter study, using various methods for data collection and analysis.
Interventions
- Other Observations to investigate the current practices of communication and decision-making during Nurse-patient consultations
No intervention
Primary outcome measures
- Patient-reported expectations and experiences of the communication during consultations [Time frame: At baseline (day 1), after visit (day 1) and at 2-4 weeks]
- Communication processes and patient involvement as observed during consultations [Time frame: Day 1.]
Secondary outcome measures (1)
- Assessment and decision-making processes, and related priorities and value conflicts - from observations and RN experiences [Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 1 year]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Registered Nurses at primary care centres and patients seeking primary care for a new health concern or a new episode of a problem
Exclusion criteria
- Patients visiting the primary care nurse with a chronic or continuous health problem
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Observational model
- Other
Study locations
Sweden · 1 center
- University of Borås — Borås
Publications
- Ostensson S, Acuna Mora M, Darcy L, Saarnio Huttu L, Van Dulmen S, Sundler AJ. Patient-Registered Nurse Communication: Exploring Patients' Expectations and Experience in Primary Care Consultations. Health Expect. 2025 Aug;28(4):e70353. doi: 10.1111/hex.70353. PMID 40696861
- Sundler AJ, Heden L, Holmstrom IK, van Dulmen S, Bergman K, Ostensson S, Ostman M. The patient's first point of contact (PINPOINT) - protocol of a prospective multicenter study of communication and decision-making during patient assessments by primary care registered nurses. BMC Prim Care. 2023 Nov 29;24(1):249. doi: 10.1186/s12875-023-02208-0. PMID 38031004
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06067672 · FO2023/171