Clinical Trial: Quality Improving Program on Agitation in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional



Official Title: Quality Improving Program on Agitation in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Brief Summary:

Agitation in the intensive care unit can have multiple consequences. The investigators hypothesize that agitation and its consequences can be reduced by the introduction of a reminder aiming at guiding the management of agitation. The investigators also hypothesize that they can prevent agitation and its consequences by acting on patients environment with reafferentation and relaxation methods.

The investigators' objectives are to test within a quality improvement project by a prospective randomized study:

  • If by reducing the number of agitation episodes we reduce the number of harmful consequences.
  • If the introduction of reafferentation and relaxation methods (music therapy or reflexology) can prevent the occurrence of agitation.
  • If the introduction of a reminder on management of agitation can reduce the number of agitation episodes.

This study is conducted in an18 general surgical ICU beds receiving 1600 patients / year for a total of 6900 hospital /days /year, in a tertiary teaching hospital.

The study is organized in 3 phases:

  1. First phase: Baseline phase (Prospective analysis of the present situation)
  2. Second phase: Learning phase (Implementation of a reminder about the management of agitation and delirium )
  3. Third phase: Randomized Intervention (reminder alone vs addition of music or reflexology)

The interventions are :

  1. Implementa