Electroacupuncture for postoperative pain and gastrointestinal motility after laparoscopic appendectomy (AcuLap): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Table 2 Time schedule of enrollment, interventions, and assessments

	Study period
	Enrollment	Allocation	Post-allocation					Close-out
TIMEPOINT	-t₁	0	t₀	t₁	t₂	…	t_x	t_x+1
Enrollment:
Eligibility screen	X
Informed consent	X
Allocation		X
Interventions:
Electroacupuncture			X	X	X
Sham electroacupuncture			X	X	X
Control
Assessments:
Passing flatus			X	X	X	X	X
Postoperative pain			X	X	X	X	X
Analgesics			X	X	X	X	X
Nausea/vomiting			X	X	X	X	X
Bowel motility			X	X	X	X	X
Tolerability to diet			X	X	X	X	X
Complications			X	X	X	X	X
Time to recovery			X	X	X	X	X
Fulfillment of defined discharge criteria			X	X	X	X	X
Patient’s agreement to discharge			X	X	X	X	X
Quality of life								X
Hospital stay								X
Readmission rate								X
Medical costs								X
Protocol failure rate								X

-t_1, time before operation; t₀, operation day; t₁-t_x, postoperative day 1 to postoperative day X (= actual discharge day); t_x+1, the first visit day on outpatient clinic after discharge

ISSN: 1745-6215