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Pilot and Feasibility Study of a Mirrors Intervention for Reducing Delirium in Older Cardiac Surgical Patients

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Postoperative Delirium
Interventions
Other: Mirrors Intervention
Registration Number
NCT01599689
Lead Sponsor
Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Brief Summary

This pilot cluster-randomised controlled trial aims to determine whether the use of bedside mirrors, as a clearly defined part of patients' postsurgical ICU care, can reduce delirium and improve outcomes in the older cardiac surgical patient.

Detailed Description

The risk of delirium, an acute disturbance in mental status and cognition that occurs commonly after cardiac surgery, increases sharply from the age of about 65 years. Its occurrence, even for one day, is associated with longer ICU and hospital stays, increased costs, and negative physical and cognitive outcomes at one year. In spite of previous prevention and intervention research, delirium incidence in the older cardiac surgical patient remains high (up to 72%).

ICU clinicians at Papworth Hospital have made observations suggesting that delirium could be reduced using a novel and unconventional strategy of bedside mirrors. Mirrors of any type are uncommon in ICU environments\[1\], but their occasional use by patients on our ICU has been reported by bedside clinicians and physiotherapists to result in:

* a normalisation of mental status and attention (core delirium diagnostic criteria), and

* earlier physical mobilisation (associated with reduced delirium risk), particularly in older-aged patients

Evidence from other sources supports mirrors' beneficial effect in these areas \[2-10\], but mirror use has never to our knowledge been explored for the reduction of delirium. This pilot study seeks to determine whether the use of bedside mirrors, as a clearly defined part of patients' postsurgical ICU care, can reduce delirium and improve outcomes in the older cardiac surgical patient.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
223
Inclusion Criteria
  • scheduled for elective or urgent cardiac surgery at Papworth Hospital
  • aged 70+ years
Exclusion Criteria
  • inability to obtain informed consent
  • care pathway anticipating admission elsewhere than to ICU following surgery
  • severe visual impairment impeding ability to recognise self in mirror
  • physical or communication barriers likely to impede effective administration of study procedures
  • severe mental disability likely to impede effective administration of study procedures or assessment of delirium
  • history of psychiatric illness previously requiring hospitalisation

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Mirrors InterventionMirrors InterventionPatients allocated to Mirrors will receive a structured, protocol-driven bedside mirrors intervention as part of their postsurgical ICU care. This intervention will commence as soon as all anaesthetic agents have been switched off and the patient is awake following surgery unless considered clinically inappropriate.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Delirium incidenceAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

Delirium will be measured twice daily, using the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU).

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Mental StatusAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

Measured from Features 1 \& 3 of CAM-ICU

AttentionAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

Measured from Feature 2 of CAM-ICU

Functional IndependenceAssessed at 12 weeks after surgery

Measured using Barthel Index

Delirium time of onsetAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

This is the patient's first occurrence of delirium, as measured using the CAM-ICU, counted in number of days from admission to ICU.

Delirium durationAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

This is the total number of ICU days with delirium, as measured using the CAM-ICU

Perceptual disturbances about the body and dissociative symptomsAssessed at 12 weeks after surgery

Measured using interview described in previous work (Morgan et al., Biol Psychiatry, 2011)

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)Assessed at 12 weeks after surgery

Measured using EQ-5D

Length of ICU and hospital stayAssessed at hospital hospital discharge

This is the patient's length of stay in ICU and hospital, in number of days from admission date until discharge date.

MortalityAssessed at 12 weeks after surgery

This is patient mortality from admission to ICU until 12 weeks after surgery.

Factual memories from ICUAssessed at 12 weeks after surgery

Measured using the ICU Memory Tool (Jones et al., Clin Intensive Care, 2000)

Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for time clustersAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

This is a measure of the within-cluster correlation necessary for calculating sample size necessary for a definitive trial if warranted

Acceptability of the interventionAssessed from day of ICU admission after surgery until day of ICU discharge (or until 12 weeks after surgery, whichever comes first)

This is the number of instances when the intervention was considered appropriate by clinicians and accepted and used by patients, divided by total recorded indicated instances.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

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Papworth Everard, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

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