Exploring the Feasibility of Digital Intervention Games as a Diagnostic and Management Tool for Delirium at SGH Inpatient Wards

Delirium is a neurobehavioral syndrome caused by the acute and transient impairment of brain activity. The clinical context usually involves a vulnerable patient, susceptible to predisposing factors, such as clinical illness, cognitive and sensory deficits, with precipitating factors occurring during the period of hospitalization. Although widely documented in international and local studies, there is no viable and labour-free delirium detection tool. CURATE.DTx is our tablet ready, multi-tasking serious game, that leverage a small data artificial intelligence-derived platform that can dynamically personalise cognitive training by modifying the game intensity.

This is a single-centre, single-arm prospective cohort feasibility study. Hospitalised adults >65years old will be invited to trial the digital cognitive games. Patient experience and usability will be assessed at the end of the intervention through surveying methods. Acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality and limited accuracy testing will be assessed.

The investigators will recruit 25-50 inpatients (>65 years old adults) from the medical wards in SGH from November 2023 to Jan 2024.

Potential participants will be approached by the SGH team in person to provide more information about the study. Participants will be screened by the SGH research team for eligibility at initial contact.

Eligible participants will be invited to complete a daily cognitive evaluation session consisting of a cognitive training game session, followed by a 4 'A's Test - a well-validated bedside tool, which helps practitioners detect delirium in day-to-day practice, as well as an MMSE test as an additional measure. CURATE.DTx is a self-guided digital game-based multitasking intervention that involves a combination of four subtasks played simultaneously. The game will be played by each participant via a study-provided tablet. During first session prior to commencing data collection, a trained trial team member will explain in detail how to play the game-based multitasking intervention. The session will require 12 minutes of gameplay for a minimum of three days and up to five days for a total duration of hospitalisation. Participants will also be encouraged to play an optional digital game that is designed to help with their emotional and cognitive health. Deidentified game play data will be recorded.