A Multi-Site Feasibility Trial of Embedded Emergency Department Physical Therapy for Dizziness

Conditions

• Dizziness

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - N/A

Healthy Volunteers

Not accepted

Interventions

• Embedded Emergency Department Physical Therapy — OTHER
  We place a physical therapist directly in the emergency department to initiate timely care for patients with dizziness rather than waiting on an outpatient referral to physical therapy, which can often take weeks to accomplish, if ever at all. The actual techniques and approaches used by the embedded ED physical therapist in this study (e.g., exercises, maneuvers, coaching) are standard-of-care and do not involve investigational interventions, devices, or drugs.
• Usual Care — OTHER
  Standard-of-care treatment for dizziness presenting in the emergency department

Study Details

This is a multi-site feasibility trial of an embedded emergency department (ED) physical therapy care model for dizziness at two EDs in the Northwestern Medicine and University of Utah Health systems. The study intervention (embedded ED physical therapy) is a reconceptualization of the traditional outpatient physical therapy care model in which we place a physical therapist directly in the ED to initiate timely care for patients with dizziness; we previously evaluated this intervention in a single center randomized trial for low back pain. This multi-site feasibility trial will be comprised of 9 months of active intervention and 12 months of longitudinal data collection. The two sites will be parallel randomized 1:1 to receive either the embedded ED physical therapy condition (intervention, n=1) or usual care (control, n=1) via simple randomization. This trial focuses on feasibility outcomes - such as our ability to enroll participants, deliver the intervention with fidelity, and collect longitudinal patient-reported outcome data and electronic health record data.

Key Dates

Start date

Apr 1, 2026

Status verified

Apr 2026

Primary completion

Jul 1, 2027

Completion

Apr 1, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment

100 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Arms

• Experimental: Embedded Emergency Department Physical Therapy
  We place a physical therapist directly in the emergency department to initiate timely care for patients with dizziness rather than waiting on an outpatient referral to physical therapy, which can often take weeks to accomplish, if ever at all. The actual techniques and approaches used by the embedded ED physical therapist in this study (e.g., exercises, maneuvers, coaching) are standard-of-care and do not involve investigational interventions, devices, or drugs.
• Other: Usual Care
  Usual care treatment for dizziness presenting in the emergency department (ED). Usual care consists of any ED testing or treatment not involving an ED physical therapist in accordance with the treating physician's usual and customary practice. This could include diagnostic imaging, patient education and resources, and administration and/or prescribing of medications.

Primary Outcome Measure

Longitudinal participant surveys (effectiveness): missing data rate for the Dizziness Handicap Inventory [ Time Frame: 12 months ]

Central Contacts

• Howard Kim, MD, MS
  312-926-0591
  [email protected]

Locations (2)

Find similar trials in Chicago, IL

Related Studies

• Fall Risk Assessment and Speech Intelligibility Enhancement Using In-ear Device
  Recruiting · Stanford University · Palo Alto, California
• Reducing Vertigo Associated With MRI Machines
  Recruiting · Johns Hopkins University · Baltimore, Maryland
• Personalized Brain Stimulation to Treat Chronic Concussive Symptoms
  PHASE2 · Recruiting · University of California, Los Angeles · Westwood, Los Angeles, California
• Vestibular Rehabilitation App for Adults With Dizziness Related to mTBI
  Recruiting · Mountain Home Research & Education Corporation · Tampa, Florida