35 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if Grief-informed Parent Support sessions offered weekly to parents with a child in the pediatric intensive care unit work to decrease symptoms of parent grief compared to a non-grief informed parent support program offered weekly to parents with a child in the pediatric intensive care unit. The main question is: Do parents with a child in the pediatric intensive care unit report fewer symptoms of grief, such as depression and anxiety, following their attendance at a parent support program with a grief-informed intervention compared to parents who receive a non-grief informed support program. Participants will be randomized to : Receive a 8-session grief-informed parent support program or a 8-session non grief-informed parent support program. Parents will report symptoms of grief before and after the 8-session parent support program.
Admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is well-recognized to be extremely distressing and stressful for the patient and family. As medical research and technology have advanced more and more children in the PICU are surviving, however in turn incurring new and persistent impairments across physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains of health. This phenomenon is often referred to as post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). These impairments not only impact the patient but parents have also been found to have poor emotional health outcomes following discharge from the PICU. Consistently, parents/caregivers of children admitted to the PICU report their primary concerns to be 1) the overwhelming physical environment of the PICU, 2) uncertainty about the child's survivorship and outcomes, 3) relationships and communication with staff, and 4) feeling helpless. Additionally, research has shown that caregiver-perceived stress during the child's hospitalization positively predicts post-traumatic stress three months after discharge for parents/caregivers (Nelson et al., 2019), which may translate into higher risk and duration of post-traumatic stress in their children. Therefore, providing an in-hospital outlet such as a "PICU Journal" for patients and families to express their subjective experiences may help bridge the gap between perception and reality as a means of buffering against post-traumatic responses. Conceptually, a semi-structured journal intervention may integrate the therapeutic aspects of journaling while also providing pertinent information and serving as an advocacy and communication tool. Prior research has demonstrated the use of a "PICU Journal" is feasible for implementation and has been well-received by families of children in the PICU (Herrup et al., 2019). Therefore, the aims of this mixed-method study are to 1) examine the relationship between this journaling intervention and the perceived stress, care engagement, symptoms of anxiety, and depression, and the development of PICS in parents of children hospitalized in the PICU, and 2) examine the relationship between parent participation in this intervention and the development of PICS-p in children, and 3) assess the feasibility of this intervention from key stakeholders.
The use of peri-arrest bolus epinephrine (PBE) has emerged as a rescue strategy for life-threatening hypotension in pediatric intensive care units (ICU) despite scant published data supporting its use in this setting. As optimal dosing of PBE in this population is unclear, we aim to determine if an initial dose of 0.5 mcg/kg versus 1.0 mcg/kg yields differences in hemodynamic outcomes. The EPI Dose Study is a single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind, dose-effect trial measuring systolic blood pressure (SBP) before and after PBE is given. We hypothesize that the 1.0 mcg/kg group will have more robust increases in SBP.
The purpose of this research study is to find out about how obtaining consent for procedures in the PICU affects parental/caregiver stress. The researchers think that alleviating some of the uncertainly of a PICU stay by discussing types of procedural support offered and obtaining informed consent prior to their immediate necessity may help decrease stress experienced by caregivers. This study will allow the researchers to learn more about it.
Multidisciplinary experts from two Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs), used an iterative modified Delphi process to develop and refine criteria for determining PICU patients for whom a family care conference would be beneficial. In this study the investigators will assess the use of those criteria as a trigger to offer parents of PICU patients a family care conference.
The objective of this study is to administer music therapy to patients in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in order to observe how music affects patient agitation, vital signs, and overall recovery in the unit.
The timely use of antibiotics can reduce morbidity and mortality associated with bacterial infections, particularly in the intensive care unit setting (ICU). Long courses of antibiotics, however, are associated with the emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and antibiotic-associated adverse events, such as C. difficile infections. Thus, antibiotic de-escalation is an important goal of antimicrobial stewardship programs. Procalcitonin (PCT) has been investigated as a biomarker for critically ill adult patients with bacterial infection, particularly pneumonia and sepsis. The proposed project will evaluate whether a PCT testing and treatment algorithm, implemented through daily antimicrobial stewardship audit and feedback, can promote early and safe antibiotic de-escalation in the pediatric ICU.
The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of apneic oxygenation on the time to desaturation in pediatric patients treated in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The investigators hypothesize pediatric patients will have an increase in time to desaturation with apneic oxygenation when compared to standard practice in the PICU.
This project is evaluating the effect of a standardized communication intervention in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) on long-term distress of family members of children in the PICU for 5 days or longer. The study hypothesis is that intervention families will have lower (better) acute stress disorder scores when their child is discharged from the PICU and lower (better) post-traumatic stress disorder scores at 3-month follow-up, as compared to the control group families. The investigators will recruit 220 families (110 in each of the control and intervention groups). Families who are randomized to the intervention group will receive routine visits from members of the PACT (palliative care) team at least three times/week to address psychosocial needs, keep families informed about their child's health status, and offer emotional and instrumental support and resources. Families in the control group will receive usual care in the PICU. The intervention will end whenever the child is discharged from the PICU, which usually happens within 3 weeks of enrollment. The investigators will assess family outcomes at discharge from the PICU and 90 days after study enrollment. The investigators will conduct two additional activities to learn more about the processes of care for those in both the intervention and control groups. First, during the intervention, the investigators will recruit 30 families (15 in each group) and ask permission to audio-record the family care conferences to assess communication styles and gain greater insight into the differences in practice with or without the participation of the intervention team. The investigators will obtain additional consent from participants in these family conferences who are not otherwise enrolled in the study. Second, after completion of the 3-month follow-up interview, a sub-sample of a different 30 families (again, 15 in each group) will be invited to participate in qualitative interviews to debrief about their experience in the study and the intervention (for those in that group). This will be a one-time interview scheduled within 60 days of recruitment for this part of the project.
ABC PICU is a randomized clinical trial that will compare the clinical consequences of RBC storage duration in 1538 critically ill children. Laboratory and observational evidence points to serious concerns about the lack of safety and effectiveness of older RBCs, especially in more vulnerable populations. Physicians and institutions have been systematically transfusing fresh RBCs to some pediatric patients primarily because of beliefs that the use of fresh RBCs improve outcomes. Conversely, the standard practice of blood banks is to deliver the oldest RBC unit in order to decrease blood wastage. To provide much needed high quality evidence to answer the question "do RBCs of reduced storage duration improve outcomes?" The ABC PICU Trial will conduct a RCT comparing development of New or Progressive Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (NPMODS) in critically ill children transfused with either RBCs stored ≤ 7 days or standard issue RBCs (expected mean RBC storage duration of 17-21 days).
While near infrared spectroscopy is an exciting technology, scientific rigor is required in order to optimize its appropriate use in the clinical arena. This study will explore the feasibility and clinical applicability of data obtained from the NIRS device. The ability to noninvasively monitor peripheral perfusion remains an area of intense research. The most widely used method is pulse oximetry. The international mandate of its use in operating rooms in the early 1990s after the publication of the Harvard minimum standards for monitoring speaks to its unquestionable utility. Its pervasive application notwithstanding, pulse oximetry merely provides a calibrated ratio of arterial and venous hemoglobin saturation. While this data is valuable, time-tested, and even may hold the promise of accurately noninvasively trending cardiac output, cellular dysmetabolism -- hallmarks of vulnerable, yet viable tissue beds -- are beyond the predictive values of currently available devices.
The primary goal of this project is to determine whether normalizing hyperglycemia is a safe approach to improve multisystem organ function in critically ill children requiring intensive care. The will are conducting the "PedETrol" (the "Pediatric ICUs at Emory-Children's Center Glycemic Control: The PedETrol Trial) Trial, a 4-year single-center, prospective, randomized clinical trial to evaluate the outcome benefit, safety and resource utilization impact of maintaining strict glucose control in children with life-threatening conditions. \*\*\*This study is supported by an Research Project Grant (RO1 grant) (MRR) via the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of dexmedetomidine (DEX) in intubated and mechanically ventilated pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) subjects. The key study objectives are: * To characterize the loading and maintenance dosing of DEX by age group and overall medical condition of pediatric subjects * To evaluate the safety and efficacy of loading and maintenance infusions for sedation in initially intubated and mechanically ventilated PICU subjects * To explore the exposure-response relationship between dose of DEX and clinical measures of sedation and safety
The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors associated with indwelling urinary catheters, as well as to assess the nurses' knowledge and adherence to hospital policies. The study will also include a very extensive literature search in an attempt to create a national standard or guideline.
The investigators propose to conduct a large clinical study to determine if daily bathing with chlorhexidine impregnated cloths will reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Recent studies of adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients have shown significantly decreased morbidity and mortality when blood sugar concentrations are closely controlled. The safety and efficacy of this type of blood sugar management has not been studied in the pediatric ICU population. Based on the current pediatric literature data as well as our extensive retrospective study, blood sugar concentrations have a potentially profound role to play among PICU patients. In preparation for a multi-center randomized control trial, we propose a prospective feasibility study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of using an insulin delivery algorithm to manage blood sugar in the PICU. Our hypothesis for this feasibility trial is that uniformly monitoring and controlling blood glucose with a Discrete-Closed-Loop(DCL) insulin delivery algorithm will be an effective, safe, and consistent means of delivering insulin to manage glucose in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Sleep is disrupted in the PICU. This disruption has been reported in studies that have used: (a) observation of sleep-wake cycles (b) self-reports by children themselves , and (c) objective measures (e.g., electroencephalograph( EEG). Noise and light levels have been correlated with profound sleep disruption in the PICU . Sleep disruption is known to have a profound impact on the overall health of a child, both from a physiological and a psychological standpoint . In addition, sleep disruption has been shown to change cortisol levels, cause impaired immune responses and impair cognitive function in both children and adults . Disruption in sleep also is known to impair healing through these many complex connections with other homeostatic processes in the human body. What is the effect of wearing earplugs in critically ill children admitted to the PICU on: 1. Sleep states 2. Physiological stability (e.g. melatonin, cortisol and immune status) 3. Sleep habits after discharge from the PICU (on the general pediatric unit, 2 weeks and 2 months after discharge), and 4. Child behavior at 2 weeks and 2 months after discharge from the PICU by parent report on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
This study should help determine to determine whether or not the use of an antibiotic coated catheter will significantly reduce the number of central line related bloodstream infections in children requiring a CVC. This study may also determine if antibiotic coated catheters will be significantly less likely than non-antibiotic coated catheters to allow bacteria to live (colonize) in/on the catheter. The use of central venous catheters (CVC) is paramount to the care of critically ill children. Thus, in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), these catheters are widely used in situations when more than peripheral venous access is necessary. This central access allows the delivery of fluids, e.g, blood, medications, etc. as well as serves as a means to withdraw blood. It has been estimated that more than 250,000 nosocomial bloodstream infections occur each year, with 90% of these associated with the use of CVCs. More recently, the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System (NNIS) reported during 1992-2001 CVC-associated bloodstream infections (BSI) in ICU settings occurred at rates of 2.9-11.3 BSI per 1,000 catheter days. The cost of treating CVC related BSI has been estimated to be in excess of $28,000 per catheter. In the adult medical literature, there is strong evidence supporting use of antiseptic or antibiotic coated catheters to reduce the cost of hospitalization for CVC related infections. Cost-benefit studies have suggested that if the baseline incidence of CVC BSI is \>0.4 BSI per 1000 catheter days, $59,000 will be saved, 7 cases of BSI will be avoided, and 1 death prevented for every 300 anti-septic impregnated CVCs used.
This study follows a group of patients admitted to the PICU who are identified as being at risk for developing acute kidney injury. The investigators will use risk-stratification, biomarker testing, and a functional assessment to predict patients who will become fluid overloaded and develop acute kidney injury.
While mortality in U.S. pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) is improving, surviving children frequently develop persistent physical, cognitive, and psychological impairments. Over half of critically ill children experience potentially preventable PICU-acquired morbidities, with mechanically ventilated children being at greatest risk. In critically ill adults, randomized trials have shown that progressive mobility, started early (within 3 days of initiating mechanical ventilation), decreases muscle weakness and the duration of mechanical ventilation. However, similar randomized studies have not been conducted in the PICU. The investigator's prior studies revealed that less than 10 percent of critically ill children at the highest risk of functional decline are evaluated by a physical or occupational therapist within 3 days of PICU admission. Given the interplay of sedation, delirium, sleep, and immobility in the PICU, single-component interventions, such as sedation protocolization, have not consistently shown benefit for decreasing mechanical ventilation duration. Thus, the investigators developed the first pediatric-specific, interprofessional intervention (PICU Up!) to integrate goal-directed sedation, delirium prevention, sleep promotion, and family engagement into daily PICU care in order to facilitate early and progressive mobility. The investigators have demonstrated the safety and feasibility of this pragmatic, multifaceted strategy in both single-site and multicenter pilot studies. Hence, the next phase of the investigators research is to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and delivery of the PICU Up! intervention across a range of PICU patients and health systems. The investigators propose a pragmatic, stepped-wedge, cluster randomized controlled trial that will include 10 academic and community hospitals in the United States, with the following Aims: 1) Evaluate if the PICU Up! intervention, delivered under real-world conditions, decreases mechanical ventilation duration (primary outcome) and improves delirium and functional status compared to usual care in critically ill children; and 2) Conduct a multi-stakeholder, mixed-methods process evaluation to identify key contextual factors associated with delivery of PICU Up!. If proven effective, the PICU Up! intervention has potential to profoundly change medical care in the PICU and substantially impact public health by improving outcomes for the growing number of pediatric survivors of critical illness.
This is a prospective pilot study to investigate the effects of Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Field Stimulation (PENFS) on symptoms of opioid withdrawal in pediatric patients in the intensive care unit.
Severe pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) is a life-threatening and frequent problem experienced by thousands of children each year. Little evidence supports current supportive practices during their critical illness. The overall objective of this study is to identify the best positional and/or ventilation practice that leads to improved patient outcomes in these critically ill children. We hypothesize that children with high moderate-severe PARDS treated with either prone positioning or high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) will demonstrate more days off the ventilator when compared to children treated with supine positioning or conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV).
The project seeks to study the use of an navigator-based intervention called "PICU Supports." The study will test the impact of PICU Supports during and after PICU discharge on parent outcomes (satisfaction with decision making, decision regret, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, health-related quality of life, and complicated bereavement) and on parent and healthcare team member assessments of communication and team collaboration.
Integrated pulmonary index (IPI) is a tool that monitors respiratory status. It takes into account four parameters: respiratory rate, end-tidal CO2, heart rate and O2 saturation using a pulse oximeter and specialized sidestream CO2 monitor. The device can continuously monitor and display the patient's ventilatory state as a single digit, 1-10. In addition, trends can be kept and it can provide early indication of changes in respiratory status. IPI has only been studied in pediatric patients who are under sedation; however, more uses for the monitoring tool are a possibility. One of those possibilities is to use IPI to monitor pediatric patients during the weaning and extubation process to determine if a specific number, or less than a specific number, is associated with extubation failure. Therefore, clinicians and physicians would be better able to determine if the patient is ready for extubation.
This study aims to improve communication between medical teams, patients, and families in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. The researchers hypothesize that both improving interprofessional teamwork when preparing for family meeting and preparing families for these meetings will improve team and family satisfaction with communication. The study will involve bringing together a group of medical professionals and parents of patients to collaboratively design an intervention. In addition, the researchers will study feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and whether it impacts family and team outcomes.
Seizures are common in children (\~350 per 100,000 patients per year) and require immediate medical attention. If the seizure is prolonged (\> 5 minutes) it is called status epilepticus and delayed treatment leads to higher risk in drug resistance and brain injury. The current standard of care for children admitted to the ICU with established or suspected status epilepticus is to start a conventional continuous EEG study that helps diagnosing seizures by typical electro graphic patterns. It takes on average 4 hours to start and another two hours to obtain a reading by epileptologists. This is far beyond the time window of starting an EEG study (60 minutes) as recommended by the neurocritical care society. In adult ICUs, point of care "Rapid Response EEG" are becoming a new standard of care and our ICU adopted this practice in 2020. It can be easily placed by the ICU staff rather than a specifically trained EEG technician but has a lower resolution due to fewer leads (10 vs. 20). The purpose of this study is to determine wether and by how much time RR-EEG yields faster preliminary EEG reports that the previously available conventional EEG (cEEG) and wether the detection of electro graphic seizures is comparable. This is a retrospective cohort study following patients who are admitted to the PICU and are placed on either cEEG or RR-EEG for status epilepticus.
A quarter of a million children and teenagers are hospitalized annually in Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) in North America. Having a child hospitalized in a PICU is stressful and affects the mood and coping of their parents. The investigators' prior work has shown how narrative medicine may help. Narrative medicine includes at least one session reading and then having a guided discussion of a poem or short story. The readings are individually selected by the Narrative Medicine Coordinator who also provides a guided writing exercise (in the form of poetry, creative non-fiction, journaling, or fiction). After writing, the parent/guardian had the option to share their writing out loud with the Narrative Medicine Coordinator. At the end of each session, the parent/guardian receives personalized writing prompts they are encouraged to use writing each day. The Investigators want to see how this session helps parents make sense of their time in the PICU and how it may help them cope. The investigators ask participants to fill out some surveys when they enroll and three days after their session.
This study is designed to help decide how much intravenous (IV) fluid should be given to pediatric trauma patients. No standard currently exists for managing fluids in critically ill pediatric trauma patients, and many fluid strategies are now in practice. For decades, trauma patients got high volumes of IV fluid. Recent studies in adults show that patients actually do better by giving less fluid. The investigators do not know if this is true in children and this study is designed to answer that question and provide guidelines for IV fluid management in children after trauma.
This study will implement and evaluate the effects of a pediatric continuity care intensivist program. This study will determine the impact of an additional pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) intensivist on outcomes at the patient and family level. It will also evaluate the training program to prepare the continuity care intensivist (CCI).
The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of virtual family-centered rounds in the neonatal intensive care unit on parental and neonatal outcomes.