Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Summary

The increase in the population over 60 years of age who could receive surgery due to changes in life expectancy and advances in surgical and anesthetic techniques. Likewise, elderly people (EP) may have a higher risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality compared to young people, with frailty being one of the risk factors that increases adverse outcomes in this period and increases the probability of developing syndromes such as postoperative delirium (POD). Assessment of frailty in EP prior to surgery is not routine, so it is unknown how many frail and/or pre-frail EP undergo surgery in health care systems. There is an association between being frail and developing greater delirium and/or postoperative cognitive deficit, which in summary translates into an increase in perioperative morbidity and mortality. For the prevention of POD, there are pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures that seek to promote orientation with respect to their environment and make it as familiar as possible, stimulate early aspects of memory and thinking skills, as well as promote sleep using environmental hygiene measures. In Chile, protocols of non-pharmacological measures have been proposed by occupational therapy teams, which have had positive results in reducing POD in frail elderly patients. These measures are temporal-spatial reorientation, physical mobilization, correction of sensory deficits, environmental management, sleep protocol, and reduction of anticholinergic drugs with statistically significant results in the reduction of POD. In accordance with the above, the objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of non-pharmacological measures applied by the nursing team in reducing the incidence of POD during the post-surgical period in fragile and pre-fragile EP undergoing elective non-cardiac surgeries. It is expected that in the end, frail and pre-frail EP who receive non-pharmacological interventions by the nursing team will present a lower incidence of POD at 24 hours compared to those who receive traditional care.


Clinical Trial Description

Participants will correspond to frail and pre-frail people over 65 years of age who undergo elective non-cardiac surgery that requires general anesthesia and who attend the UC-Christus Clinical Hospital. Frailty instruments (FRAIL scale) and Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) will be applied, together with a preoperative cognition test (MiniCog; in case of presenting an altered result, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA instrument will be applied), the delirium screening test (Delirium Triage Screen, DTS; in case of presenting an altered result, the Confusion Assessment Method instrument will be applied. d, CAM). Then, the participants will be randomized into two groups: 1. A first group to which a protocol of non-pharmacological interventions implemented by the nursing team will be applied to prevent post-surgical delirium 2. A second control group that will only receive traditional care. The users of the first group who use glasses, hearing aids and/or removable dental prostheses will move from the pre-operative unit room to the surgical ward with these elements, which will be delivered to their caregiver or companion after the safety break and before starting anesthesia inside the ward room where they will be operated on. Both groups will undergo standard monitoring (ECG, NIBP, SatO2) and anesthesia will be guided using frontal EEG (SedLine or bilateral BIS). During the intraoperative period, an effort will be made to maintain a Mean Blood Pressure ± 20% of baseline and to keep the patient normothermic. In the postoperative stage, therapeutic activities of cognitive stimulation and socialization will be carried out where temporal-spatial information will be delivered, the visit of the companion will be coordinated, a protocolized mobilization routine will be carried out considering pain, state of consciousness, thromboembolic risk and risk of falls. In the event that she does not want or cannot carry out the protocolized mobilization routine, non-pharmacological sleep will be privileged. One hour after the patient's admission to the recovery unit, a delirium evaluation will be performed using CAM by personnel other than the one who performed the non-pharmacological measures. Two hours later, the non-pharmacological measures will be reinforced and later a new evaluation of delirium will be applied using CAM. An evaluation of delirium will be carried out during the morning by means of CAM 24 hours after the admission of the patient to the recovery unit by a person other than the nursing team, who has not applied the protocol of non-pharmacological measures. If the elderly person is still hospitalized, a final delirium evaluation will be carried out by means of CAM during the afternoon (24 hours after admission to the recovery unit). In the event that the person presents CAM (+), the application of non-pharmacological measures will be evaluated with the treating team and the respective interconsultation will be processed with the geriatric team of the study. ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT05993754
Study type Interventional
Source Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Contact Victor Contreras, MSN
Phone +56955049217
Email vecontre@uc.cl
Status Recruiting
Phase N/A
Start date April 1, 2024
Completion date December 31, 2025

See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Active, not recruiting NCT04992286 - Detection, Evaluation and Monitoring of Frailties in the Elderly (FRAGING) N/A
Enrolling by invitation NCT05009706 - Self-care in Older Frail Persons With Heart Failure Intervention N/A
Recruiting NCT05529147 - The Effects of Medication Induced Blood Pressure Reduction on Cerebral Hemodynamics in Hypertensive Frail Elderly
Recruiting NCT04444544 - Quality of Life and High-Risk Abdominal Cancer Surgery
Completed NCT04140890 - Supporting Habit Formation to Attenuate Prefrailty in Elders: Pilot Study N/A
Completed NCT04061785 - Impact of Skills Acquired Through Judo Training on Risk Factors for Falling in Elderly Men and Women N/A
Recruiting NCT03141866 - Seated Physical Activity in Ageing N/A
Completed NCT04888884 - Loss of Independence - a Rapid Alternative to Frailty Screening in a Swedish ED Setting
Recruiting NCT04145726 - Frailty In Thoracic Surgery for Esophageal Cancer
Recruiting NCT04717869 - Identifying Modifiable PAtient Centered Therapeutics (IMPACT) Frailty
Not yet recruiting NCT06042244 - Multimodal Exercise Training to Reduce Frailty in People With Multiple Sclerosis N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT06022666 - PATH Program for for Severely Frail or Cognitively Impaired Patients Scheduled for Cancer Surgery. N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT04514536 - Evaluation of a Health Monitoring Platform for Elderly in Home Care Context N/A
Completed NCT01126723 - Effects of Tai Chi on Frailty in Elderly Adults N/A
Completed NCT00183040 - HORMA: Hormonal Regulators of Muscle and Metabolism in Aging Phase 2
Active, not recruiting NCT05961319 - Smart Home Technologies for Assessing and Monitoring Frailty in Older Adults
Enrolling by invitation NCT05047731 - Antihypertensive Deprescribing in Long-term Care N/A
Completed NCT04956705 - Vitamin D and Calcium Supplementation at Danish Nursing Homes N/A
Recruiting NCT03824106 - Frailty Rehabilitation Phase 4
Recruiting NCT04518423 - Prevalence, Determinants and Natural History of Frailty and Pre-frailty in Elderly People