Safety, Fatigue, and Continuity in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Fatigue Clinical Trial

Official title: Safety, Fatigue, and Continuity in the ICU: a Pragmatic Mixed-methods Study

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to describe the features of continuity and quantify fatigue in three ICU resident work schedules, estimate the frequency of preventable adverse events, and inform the design and demonstrate the feasibility of a future multi-centre study.

Clinical Trial Description

The overall goal of our research is to describe the optimal scheduling pattern for frontline physicians working in ICUs. Our hypothesis is that call schedule associated reductions in fatigue are counterbalanced by reductions in continuity, resulting in no change in the safety of patients.

This is a prospective before-after, two-centre study using a mixed-methods design. We will apply 3 work schedules, each for a period of 2 months over a 6 month period in the adult medical-surgical ICUs at two university affiliated hospitals in Toronto. In this mixed methods approach, quantitative and qualitative data will be collected concurrently, analysed separately, and their results compared, to produce an integrated interpretation of the impact of work schedule on the relationship between continuity and fatigue.

This will evaluate healthcare continuity and fatigue, describe adverse events in ICUs, identify the two best resident schedules for subsequent comparison, and demonstrate the feasibility of a future multi-centre study of physician scheduling. ;

Study Design

Observational Model: Cohort, Time Perspective: Prospective

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Fatigue

• NCT number: NCT00679809
• Study type: Observational
• Source: The Hospital for Sick Children
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 2008
• Completion date: December 2013