Trans-sectoral patient pathways in urgent and emergency care (TRANSPARENT study): protocol for a prospective, mixed-methods study in Germany.

Abstract

Urgent and emergency care in Germany is delivered across multiple, loosely connected sectors. In the absence of coherent, time-resolved data on patient movements between emergency medical services (EMS), out-of-hours ambulatory care, emergency departments (EDs) and inpatient care, inefficiencies and coordination gaps remain difficult to quantify. A process-centric, trans-sectoral analysis is required to characterise real-world patient pathways and identify actionable levers for improvement. The study aims to reconstruct, model and analyse patient pathways for urgent health complaints across all relevant sectors of the healthcare system in a German model region. We will employ a mixed-methods observational study design. Routine data from EMS, out-of-hours ambulatory care, EDs and subsequent inpatient care will be pseudonymised at source, linked via a trusted third party and analysed within a trusted research environment. Time-stamped event logs will support process mining for discovery, conformance and performance analysis alongside descriptive statistics with stratification by context, such as setting, time of day, urgency and patient cohorts. Anonymous cross-sectional surveys of patients and front-line professionals, complemented by quarterly snapshot surveys in out-of-hours ambulatory care and interviews, will provide convergent evidence on the motives, barriers and coordination of utilisation behaviour. Enrolment for surveys is anticipated from the fourth quarter of 2025; routine data capture covers 1 January-31 December 2026; analyses and dissemination run until 31 December 2027. The study received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty at RWTH Aachen University (EK 25-351). Survey modules are conducted anonymously with voluntary participation and without collection of direct identifiers; routine care data are processed in pseudonymised form and analysed within a trusted research environment. Stakeholder interviews will be conducted with informed consent. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and summary reports for participating institutions and stakeholders, complemented by plain-language materials to support patient-centred navigation. DRKS00035916.