Turning Night Into Day: Transcontinental Provision of Telehealth By and For the Emory Community

NCT ID: NCT02895997

Last Updated: 2018-11-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 7 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2016-07-31
• Study Completion Date: 2017-12-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of the study is to determine if temporarily relocating clinicians who deliver remote care using the eICU telehealth system to Sydney, Australia will lead to greater job satisfaction, reduced physiologic stress, and improve performance. Four nurses and six physicians will be sent to a site in Sydney Australia on a rotating basis to determine whether providing care during the Australian daytime is more efficient and precise than providing care during the night in the United States.

Detailed Description

The purpose of the study is to determine if temporarily relocating clinicians who deliver remote care using the eICU telehealth system to Sydney Australia will lead to greater job satisfaction, reduced physiologic stress, and improve performance. Four nurses and six physicians will be sent to a site in Sydney Australia on a rotating basis to determine whether providing care during the Australian daytime is more efficient and precise than providing care during the night in the United States.

As part of this pilot, each participant will undergo a series of evaluations before leaving, while in Australia, and after returning. The evaluations will include questionnaires related to well-being, task assessment (such as completing a paper maze or performing arithmetic), physiology assessment (such as continuous measure of heart rate by a wristwatch type device), and stress assessment (by sampling saliva and measuring cortisol and interleukin-1 Beta).

The researchers would like to determine whether normalization of the provider's (physician or nurse who are the research subjects) sleep-wake cycle improves subjective and objective well-being. Additionally, investigators seek to determine whether normalization of the provider's (physician or nurse who are the research subjects) sleep-wake cycle improves alertness and focus, and determine whether normalization of the provider's (physician or nurse who are the research subjects) sleep-wake cycle improves job performance.

Conditions

Mental Fatigue

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Clinical Operations Room Staff

Clinicians and critical care nurse volunteers from the clinical operations room (COR) staff at Emory University Hospital will travel to Sydney Australia to deliver telemedicine.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Travel Telehealth Delivery

Intervention Type: OTHER

Clinical Operations Room (COR) staff will travel to Sydney Australia to deliver telehealth to patients in Georgia United States. Upon arrival, participants will have eight nights and seven days free of clinical responsibilities. Thereafter, each participant will work four consecutive days of 12 hour shifts followed by four consecutive days with no clinical assignment. The following week, participants will work three consecutive days of 12 hour shifts followed by four consecutive days with no clinical assignment. Upon return to the USA, participants will have a week free of clinical responsibilities.

Interventions

Travel Telehealth Delivery

Clinical Operations Room (COR) staff will travel to Sydney Australia to deliver telehealth to patients in Georgia United States. Upon arrival, participants will have eight nights and seven days free of clinical responsibilities. Thereafter, each participant will work four consecutive days of 12 hour shifts followed by four consecutive days with no clinical assignment. The following week, participants will work three consecutive days of 12 hour shifts followed by four consecutive days with no clinical assignment. Upon return to the USA, participants will have a week free of clinical responsibilities.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Clinicians working in the clinical operations room at Emory University Hospital who volunteer participation in the study

Exclusion Criteria

• Declining to participate after the first phase of data collection

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Emory University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Timothy G. Buchman, PhD, MD

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Timothy Buchman, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Emory University

Locations

Emory University

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

IRB00088367

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id