Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

Rationale: Delirium is a type of acute encephalopathy that is triggered by an underlying somatic disorder. Patients experience disturbances in attention, alertness and other cognitive functions. In patients with delirium, a characteristic electroencephalography (EEG) pattern is seen, known as polymorphic delta activity. The MDR certified medical device "Deltascan" can detect this EEG pattern. Traditional clinical delirium screening instruments are known to have limited sensitivity, in particular for detecting hypoactive delirium. We hypothesize that adding EEG based encephalopathy detection to clinical observation scales increases the sensitivity and results in earlier detection of delirium and subsyndromal delirium, resulting in improved clinical outcomes of critically ill patients, such as delirium duration, ICU length of stay or survival. Objective: This randomized controlled trial aims to study the effect of implementation of EEG based encephalopathy detection (DeltaScan, Prolira, Utrecht, The Netherlands, hereafter: DeltaScan) on relevant clinical endpoints (ICU length of stay, sedative requirements and delirium related complications, among others) in a mixed medical and surgical intensive care unit population. Study design: a randomized controlled trial Study population: adult patients (>18 years) admitted to the ICU for unplanned care with a minimal anticipated ICU length of stay of 48h. Intervention: either usual care, where the patients' medical team obtains regular delirium screening, versus usual care plus twice daily DeltaScan measurements. During the daily medical rounds, the DeltaScan results will be presented to the patients' medical team together with decision support, consisting of DeltaScan trend interpretation and protocol-based suggestions for evaluation of underlying delirium cause. Main study parameters/endpoints: primary endpoint will be ICU length of stay. Secondary endpoints are encephalopathy/delirium occurrence, ICU encephalopathy/delirium free days, ventilator free days, organ support free days, sedative, opioid and antipsychotic drug requirement, delirium related complication occurrence, frequency and duration of physical restraints application, ICU mortality, ICU readmission, hospital length of stay, hospital mortality and 90-day mortality. Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness: In this study, it is not expected that randomization to the intervention group adds risk for patients. This is a study of a diagnostic intervention with additional encephalopathy/delirium observations consisting of a short (90 seconds) EEG measurement, which does not harm the patient. Clinicians will receive protocol-based decision support alongside the diagnostic observation. No additional medical treatments will be conducted as part of the study protocol.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of 24-hour versus 96-hour infusion set replacement to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) in critically ill adults with central venous access devices.

Sub-optimal transfer of clinical information during inter-hospital transfer (IHT, the transfer of patients between acute care hospitals) is common and can lead to patient harm. To address this problem, the investigators will use key stakeholder input to refine and implement an interoperable health information exchange platform that integrates with the electronic health record and improves the reliability of and access to necessary clinical information in three use cases involving transfer of patients between sending and receiving hospitals with varying levels of affiliation and health record integration. The investigators will assess the effect of this intervention on frequency of medical errors, evaluate the use and usability of this platform from the perspective of those that interact with it, and use these results to develop a dissemination plan to spread implementation and use of this platform across other similar institutions.

This study evaluates the effects of either Pediasure or Nourish formulas on the gastrointestinal microbiome in critically-ill children. Patients will be randomized to received either Pediasure or Nourish.

The use of physical restraints is common practice in Intensive Care Units (ICU). This medically prescribed procedure requires full attention of medical and paramedical teams for its implementation, monitoring and ending, as a major restriction of patients' individual freedom. French highest authority for health has defined, for geriatrics and psychiatric units, ten criteria of good practice for physical restraints' use. Routine practice reports critically ill patients' safety as main reason of use. This decision, often left to the sole discretion of nurses, varies according to their own representation of this risk, and depends on several factors: seniority in ICU, nurse to patient ratio and personal workload. In order to reduce practices subjectivity and heterogeneity, we have developed a decision-making tool for physical restraints implementation. This tool is based on objective scales used on a daily basis concerning neurological status (Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) and Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU)). Disorientation or delirium can lead to severe incidents by promoting accidental removing of important devices such as arterial of venous line, drains among others. However, physical restraints are recognized as a major cause of delirium and agitation. Critically ill patients require rigorous evaluation of organ dysfunctions necessitating adequate invasive equipments, with associated risks of unexpected removal or alteration. Such events could urge caregivers to use physical restraints. Based on recent literature, about a third of ICU patients are restrained, and accidental deconditioning is mainly observed within these particular patients. In addition, three categories of patients have been defined according to the invasive nature of their equipment and therefore according to the risk associated with an unexpected withdrawal. Finally, presence of patient's family and their adherence to its surveillance were also implemented into the tool. Main study objective is to jointly investigate effectiveness and tolerance of a decision-making tool guiding physical restraints use in ICU patients.

PENFUP FASE 2, It is a multicenter study by parallel conglomerates, planned in order to evaluate the efficacy between two levels of frequency of postural change in intensive care units for adults of hospitals in various regions of Colombia.

The aim of the project is to test the efficacy of a systematic intervention for individual follow-up of caregivers at the intensive care unit during a 12 month randomized controlled trial.

This study aims to determine the ways in which clinician implicit racial biases affect clinician communication with family members of patients near the end of life and to test a novel physician training intervention to reduce the effects of implicit racial bias on quality of communication. Phase 1: A sample of 50 physicians who care for seriously ill patients, including oncologists, critical care physicians and hospital-based internists will participated in a simulated clinical encounter with a Black standardized family member (actor) of a hypothetical case patient. Measures of implicit and explicit bias will be correlated with verbal and nonverbal communication behavior. Phase 2: This is a 2-arm randomized feasibility pilot of an intervention to mitigate the effects of clinician implicit bias on communication behavior. Physicians who treat patients with serious illness including oncologists, critical care physicians and hospital-based internists will be recruited to participate in a communication training session to reduce the effects of implicit bias or a control training session focusing only on communication skills. Their communication behavior will be videotaped during a simulated encounter with a Black standardized family member (actor) of a hypothetical patient with serious illness before and after the training sessions. The communication behavior before and after the training session will be compared between physicians that received the communication skills only intervention versus the physicians that received the communication skills and bias mitigation training. The primary hypothesis is that physicians who receive both the communication skills and the bias mitigation training will have greater improvements in communication skills with the Black standardized caregiver (actor) compared with those who receive only the communication skills training.

The investigator will investigate the effect of supplemental enteral protein (1.2 g/kg/day) added to standard formula to achieve high amount of enteral protein (range 2-2.4 g/kg/day) given from ICU day 5 until ICU discharge up to ICU day 90 as compared to no supplemental enteral protein to achieve moderate amount enteral protein (0.8-1.2 g/kg/day), given in conjunction with similar amounts of stepwise caloric administration in the two groups on all-cause 90-day mortality.

This study will apply an evidence based program to assist ICU survivors to overcome cognitive problems as a result of their critical illness. This study will determine feasibility of recruitment, retention and engagement with the program as well as acceptability of the program to the participants.