Effectiveness and Safety of a Flexible Family Visitation Model for Delirium Prevention in Adult Intensive Care Units: a Cluster-randomized, Crossover Trial (The ICU Visits Study)

Effectiveness and Safety of a Flexible Family Visitation Model for Delirium Prevention in Adult Intensive Care Units: a Cluster-randomized, Crossover Trial

A cluster-randomized crossover trial involving adult ICU patients, family members, and ICU professionals will be conducted. Forty medical-surgical Brazilian ICUs with visiting hours <4.5 h/day will be randomly assigned to either a restrictive family visitation model (RFVM) (visits according to local policies) or a flexible family visitation model (FFVM) (visitation during 12 consecutive hours per day) at a 1:1 ratio. After enrollment and follow-up of 25 patients, each ICU will be switched over to the other visitation model, until 25 more patients per site are enrolled and followed. The primary outcome will be the cumulative incidence of delirium among ICU patients, measured twice a day using the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU. Secondary outcome measures will include daily hazard of delirium, ventilator-free days at day 7, any ICU-acquired infections, ICU length of stay, and all-cause hospital mortality among the patients; symptoms of anxiety and depression and satisfaction among the family members; and prevalence of symptoms of burnout among the ICU professionals. Tertiary outcomes will include need for antipsychotic agents and/or mechanical restraints, coma-free days at day 7, unplanned loss of invasive devices, and ICU-acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infection, or bloodstream infection among the patients; self-perception of involvement in patient care among the family members; and satisfaction among the ICU professionals.

Inclusion Criteria:

• For ICUs: medical-surgical ICUs of of public and philanthropic Brazilian hospitals with restricted visitation policies(<4.5 hours/day).
• For Patients: Age ≥ 18 years, admission to the intensive care unit.
• For Patient's Family Members: nearest relative of the ICU patient recruited in the study and consent to participate in the study.
• For ICU Workers: ICU workers that assist patients in the ICU during the daytime for at least 20 hours per week and consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• For ICUs: ICUs with structural or organizational impediments to extended visitation.
• For Patients: Subjects with coma (Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale -4 or -5) lasting > 96 hours from the moment of first evaluation for recruitment, or delirium at the baseline (positive Confusion Assessment Method for ICU) will be excluded. Individuals with cerebral death, aphasia, severe hearing deficit, a prediction of ICU length of stay < 48 hours, exclusively palliative treatment, or without a familiar member able to participate in extended ICU visits and those who are prisioners, unlikely to survive >24hs, re-admitted to the ICU after enrolment in the study will also be excluded.
• For Patient's Family Members: Another ICU patient's relative enrolled in the study; family members who don't speak Portuguese; Difficulty to answer the self-administered questionnaires (e.g.: illiteracy)
• For ICU Workers: ICU workers who have a prediction of withdrawal of ICU care activities >15 days during the study will be excluded.