Assessing the Quality of Telephone Follow-Up After Spine Surgery

Official title

Evaluating the Quality of Telephone Follow-Up After Spine Surgery: A Non-Inferiority Study

Overview

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the quality of physiotherapy follow-up after spinal surgery can be maintained when conducted by telephone rather than in-person. The study is motivated by the desire to save healthcare resources and reduce the environmental impact of patient travel. Data from patient records, including age, sex, surgery procedure, use of pain medication, and time spent on either phone or in-person follow-ups, will be collected to evaluate whether telephone-based follow-up is an effective and sustainable alternative for post-operative care.

Detailed description

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and patient experience of telephone-based versus in-person physiotherapy follow-up after spinal surgery. Patients are allocated to one of two groups based on the day of the week they undergo surgery. This allocation determines whether the patient receives a follow-up assessment by telephone or in-person with a physiotherapist.

Following their assigned follow-up, patients are asked to complete questionnaires via REDCap regarding their satisfaction with the follow-up, regardless of the modality. These questionnaires also collect information on pain, physical function, and health-related quality of life. In addition to the initial assessment immediately after the follow-up, patients are sent the same questionnaires again at one and three months post-surgery.

The primary objective of the study is to compare outcomes between the two groups, evaluating whether telephone-based follow-up provides a comparable level of satisfaction, pain management, functional recovery, and quality of life to traditional in-person follow-up. The results will inform whether telephone follow-up is a viable and resource-efficient alternative to in-person assessments while maintaining high standards of post-operative care.

Interventions

• Other Telephone post-surgery physiotherapy follow-up
  Post-operative physiotherapy follow-up delivered via a structured telephone consultation. The session focuses on recovery after lumbar spine surgery, addressing pain management, mobility, exercise recommendations, and guidance on daily activities. The physiotherapist evaluates the patient's status verbally, answers questions, and provides tailored advice to support safe rehabilitation without requiring the patient to attend the hospital physically.
• Other In person post-operative physiotherapy follow-up
  Post-operative physiotherapy follow-up delivered as an in-person consultation at the hospital. The session includes assessment of recovery after lumbar spine surgery, hands-on evaluation if needed, and tailored advice on pain management, mobility, exercise progression, and daily activity. This format allows the physiotherapist to physically observe and, if relevant, demonstrate exercises to ensure correct performance and safe rehabilitation.

Primary outcome measures

• Oswestry Disability Index [Time frame: Immediately after the postoperative follow-up consultation with the physiotherapist, 1 month, and 3 months post-surgery.]

Secondary outcome measures (3)

• Health related quality of life [Time frame: Immediately after the postoperative follow-up consultation with the physiotherapist, 1 month, and 3 months post-surgery.]
• Patient Satisfaction with Follow-up (Modified CSQ-8) [Time frame: Immediately after the postoperative follow-up consultation with the physiotherapist, 1 month, and 3 months post-surgery.]
• Back and leg pain (VAS, 0-100 mm) [Time frame: Immediately after the postoperative follow-up consultation with the physiotherapist, 1 month, and 3 months post-surgery.]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Patients who have undergone lumbar spine surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
• Able to read and understand Danish.

Exclusion criteria

• Withdrawel of consent

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

Cohort

Study locations

Denmark · 1 center

• Department of Neurosurgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark. — Aalborg

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07173413 · K2025-124

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗