Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Code:

NCT06647303

Conditions

Surgeons

Surgical Procedure, Unspecified

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Training on communication framework

Focus Group

Surveys

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new training program to support communication between surgeons and their patients. The goal of the training program is to help patients get the information they need to make treatment decisions that are right for them.

Participants will complete surveys, attend a focus group, or receive training on Better Conversations, depending on the type of participant.

Conditions

Surgeons

Surgical Procedure, Unspecified

Study ID

NCT06647303

Start date

Nov 18, 2024

Status verified date

Oct, 2025

Completion date

Nov, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Nov, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Surgeons:

  • Surgeons from University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Surgery who have an outpatient surgical clinic and treat adult patients at UW Health

Surgical candidates:

  • Age 18 or older
  • Present to an enrolled surgeon's clinic with a surgical problem
  • Decision making ability
  • Speak English

Stakeholders:

  • Must have previous experience with surgery (within 10 years)
  • Speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

Surgeons:

  • Solely treat minors (under age 18)

Surgical candidates:

  • Lacking decision making capacity
  • Unable to speak English

Stakeholders:

  • Unable to speak English

Study Design

Enrollment

580 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Non randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Health Services Research

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Surgical candidate

Participants who are undergoing surgical consultation

experimental: Stakeholder Focus Group

Participants have previous experience with surgery

experimental: Surgeons

Surgeons from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Surgery with an outpatient surgical clinic who treat adult patients at UW Health

Interventions

Training on communication framework

Surgeons will receive training on the Better Conversations framework

Focus Group

Participants will attend a focus group to discuss the survey instruments used in this study which will help with future study design

Surveys

Participants will complete surveys regarding the surgeon's communication skills

Primary outcome measure

  • Effect of automated training program [ Time Frame: Up to 4 years ]
  • Compare effectiveness of specialist-delivered training versus automated training on participant-reported measures of surgeon communication [ Time Frame: Up to 4 years ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Kyle J Bushaw, MA

608-265-2904bushaw@surgery.wisc.edu

Margaret (Gretchen) L Schwarze, MD, MPP

608-265-4420schwarze@surgery.wisc.edu

Locations

University of Wisconsin

Recruiting

Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705

Contacts

Kyle J Bushaw, MA

608-265-2904bushaw@surgery.wisc.edu

Principal Investigator:

Margaret (Gretchen) Schwarze, MD, MPP

More Information

Sponsor

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Last update posted

Oct 22, 2025

Last verified

Oct, 2025

Keywords

  • decision making
  • communication

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Wisconsin, Madison on 2025-10-22.