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ICU Communication Tool for Serious Injury

N/A

Waitlist Available

Led By Margaret L Schwarze, MD, MPP

Research Sponsored by University of Wisconsin, Madison

Eligibility Criteria Checklist

Specific guidelines that determine who can or cannot participate in a clinical trial

Must have

Be older than 18 years old

Timeline

Screening 3 weeks

Treatment Varies

Follow Up at study completion (estimated up to 2 years)

Awards & highlights

No Placebo-Only Group

Summary

This trial will study the effects of a communication tool on older adults in the ICU with traumatic injury. Clinicians, family members, and 4500 patients at 8 sites will be surveyed.

Who is the study for?

This trial is for older adults aged 50 or above who have been seriously injured and are staying in the ICU for at least three days. It's not specified, but typically people with certain medical conditions or treatments that could interfere with the study may be excluded.

What is being tested?

The study is testing a communication tool called Best Case/Worst Case-ICU to see if it improves how doctors talk about care, reduces stress on clinicians, and possibly shortens ICU stays. The trial will involve patients from multiple hospitals across the country.

What are the potential side effects?

Since this trial involves a communication tool rather than a medication or medical procedure, there aren't traditional side effects. However, participants might experience emotional or psychological impacts from discussions about their care.

Timeline

Screening ~ 3 weeks3 visits

Treatment ~ Varies

Follow Up ~ at study completion (estimated up to 2 years)

Screening ~ 3 weeks

Treatment ~ Varies

Follow Up ~at study completion (estimated up to 2 years)

This trial's timeline: 3 weeks for screening, Varies for treatment, and at study completion (estimated up to 2 years) for reporting.

Treatment Details

Study Objectives

Study objectives can provide a clearer picture of what you can expect from a treatment.

Primary study objectives

Family-reported Quality of Communication (QOC) within 5-7 days of ICU admission

Secondary study objectives

Clinician-reported Depersonalization (DP) - Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)

Clinician-reported Emotional Exhaustion (EE) - Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)

Clinician-reported Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP)

+9 more

Other study objectives

Practitioner Opinion Survey

Awards & Highlights

No Placebo-Only Group

All patients enrolled in this study will receive some form of active treatment.

Trial Design

2Treatment groups

Experimental Treatment

Active Control

Group I: Best Case/Worst Case-ICU Communication ToolExperimental Treatment1 Intervention

Patients in the intervention group will receive care from a trauma team that routinely uses the Best Case/Worst Case-ICU communication tool.

Group II: Usual CareActive Control1 Intervention

Prior to implementation of the intervention, patients admitted to the trauma ICU will receive usual care. Usual care typically includes conversations focused on isolated problems, disarticulated from the patient's overall health trajectory. This is typified by the systems-base review, routinely summarizing each patient on rounds where the clinician lists each physiologic system, (e.g., neuro, cardiac, pulmonary...) with an assessment and plan to "fix" each abnormality with a new treatment. Deliberation about how these individual treatments align with patient preferences is typically prompted by major events like failure to liberate from a ventilator or imminent death. This pattern of usual care is well characterized and differs from daily scenario planning with the Best Case/Worst Case-ICU communication tool.

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