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Use of a Novel Digital Therapeutic Intervention for the Management of Delirium in the Acute Care Environment

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Delirium
Interventions
Device: Mindful Garden
Registration Number
NCT04652622
Lead Sponsor
Fraser Health
Brief Summary

Delirium is a condition of fluctuating confusion and agitation that affects as many as 80% of patients in critical care. Hyperactive delirium consumes a significant amount of clinical attention and resources due to the associated psychomotor agitation. Patients can become aggressive or combative putting both themselves and healthcare workers at risk of harm. Delirium has been linked to an increased risk of death and poor overall outcomes. Management largely relies on the use of potentially toxic medications and physical restraints despite limited proof of success of these interventions. Our research group will study the use of a novel interactive digital therapeutic behavior modification platform aimed at reducing anxiety and agitation associated with hyperactive delirium. We hypothesize that Use of the Mindful Garden behavioral modification platform will result in normalization of agitation and delirium scores when used for the management of delirium associated agitation in the adult delirious acute care population compared to standard care alone.

Detailed Description

Mindful Garden is a digital behavior modification platform that utilizes screen based delivery systems and sensor technologies. Mindful Garden delivers real 2-dimensional nature video layered with hyper-real 3-dimensional animations of growing and receding flowers and butterflies in flight which aims to reduce anxiety and agitation in the delirious critical care population. In doing so, normalization of agitation and delirium scores may be achieved as well as a reduction in reliance on pharmacological interventions and the use of physical restraints, which have been linked to adverse outcomes and significant side effects.

Participants with a diagnosis of hyperactive delirium in acute care inpatient units will be randomized to receive 4 hours of exposure to the MG platform in addition to standard care or to the control arm of monitoring with standard care only for the same time period.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
70
Inclusion Criteria
  • Adult (age >18yrs)
  • Admitted to the Royal Columbian Hospital
  • RASS +1 or greater for 2 assessments 1 hour apart within the 24-hour period directly prior to study enrollment and persisting at the time of enrollment
  • Demonstrated incidence of at least 2 PRN medication events for the management of delirium-associated agitation in the preceding 24 hours and/or infusion of psycho- active medication for the management of delirium (eg: dexmeditomodine)
  • ICDSC greater than or equal to 4 at time of enrollment or CAM positive
Exclusion Criteria
  • Planned procedure or test that precludes participation in the full 4-hour study session
  • Unable to see (visual impairment such as documented blindness, ongoing inability to keep eyes open or documented or assessed inability to focus, track or maintain visual contact for extended periods as determined by recruitment personnel)
  • Significant uncontrolled pain with a Verbal Pain scale of 5/10 or greater or a Clinical Pain Observation Tool >4 despite intervention at the time of enrollment.
  • RASS of 0 to -5 at study enrollment indicating patient is awake and calm or sedated
  • Refusal for participation by the participant's responsible physician or request to not retain data by participants substitute decision maker
  • Currently enrolled in any other research study involving drugs or devices which could impact on the outcomes of interest, as evaluated by the Principal Investigator

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Intervention armMindful GardenParticipants will receive 4 hours of exposure to the Mindful Garden digital therapeutic platform in addition to standard care
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Agitation scores5 hours

Richmond Agitation Sedation Score is a validated and standardized scoring system ranging from -5 (deeply sedated) to 0 (awake and calm) to +4 (combative). Scores are measured hourly from study start, one hour post intervention and at the start of the following nursing shift.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Movement Count Average4 Hours

Those in the intervention arm will have generated activity logs stored within the device units. The movement count average is calculated by comparing the difference in pixel density from the previous frame to the current one. The resulting value is then averaged over the collected frames and returned as a decimal percentage of change. Values are between 0 and 1 with 0 showing the lowest amount of activity and one the highest

Use of unscheduled medications for the management of delirium associated agitation4 hours

Incidence of unscheduled or "PRN" medication use for the management of delirium associated agitation throughout the 4 hour study period

heart rate variability6 hours

For a small subset of the overall population ECG data will be collected to assess differences in heart rate variability between study arms measured as pNN50 and RMMSD. Five minute ECG recordings will be taken hourly starting one hour before the study period until one hour post timed to match agitation and delirium scores

Delirium Scores4 hours

Delirium scores will be measured using the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist. Delirium score is a range of zero to 8 with scores above or equal to 4 being diagnostic for the presence of delirium and higher scores being indicative of added severity of symptoms. Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist will be measured at study initiation, after 2 hours, at study completion (4 hours) and the start of the following nursing shift

Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale of zero4 hours

Proportion of patients achieving a Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale score of zero throughout the study period. Score range is -5 to +4 with a score of zero indicating the patient is awake and calm. Negative scores indicate deeper sedation, positive scores reflect agitation

Physiological data4 hours

Basic physiological data will be collected and analyzed from nursing records and for a smaller proportion directly from telemetry monitors where available to compare between arms as well as to evaluate trends over the course of the study period. Parameters include heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and use of vasopressors

Physical Restraint Use4 hours

Proportion of participants with physical restraints in use throughout the study period and the length of time of restraints in use

Incidence of Unplanned Line removal4 hours

Incidence of unplanned removal of lines or tubes by the study participant (endotracheal tubes, nasogastric tubes, oral-gastric tubes, central venous lines, peripheral intravenous lines, urinary catheters, arterial lines) throughout the study period.

PRN medication use in the 2 hours post study2 hours

Incidence of unscheduled medication administration for the management of delirium behaviors in the 2 hours following the study or intervention period.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Royal Columbian Hospital

🇨🇦

New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

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