Bringing I-PASS to the Bedside: A Communication Bundle to Improve Patient Safety and Experience

August 17, 2020 updated by: Christopher Landrigan, Boston Children's Hospital
Patient and Family-Centered I-PASS is a bundle of communication interventions to improve the quality of information exchange between physicians, nurses, and families, and to better integrate families into all aspects of daily decision making in hospitals. This project tests the hypothesis that rates of medical errors and adverse events (primary outcome), hospital experience, communication, and shared understanding will improve following implementation of Patient and Family Centered I-PASS, as compared with current practice.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

We conducted an intervention study on pediatric inpatient units in seven North American hospitals. Each site was assigned to one of 3 staggered waves of implementation and data collection. The Patient and Family Centered I-PASS intervention included a health literacy-informed, structured communication framework for family-centered rounds; written rounds summaries for families; a training and learning program; and strategies to support teamwork and implementation. We measured errors and adverse events (AEs) via an established systematic surveillance methodology, family experience via pre-discharge surveys, and communication processes via direct observations.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
6478

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1X8
        • The Hospital for Sick Children
  • United States
    • California
      • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
        • Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94158
        • UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco
    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20889
        • Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
    • Ohio
      • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45229
        • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19134
        • St. Christopher's Hospital for Children
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84113
        • Primary Children's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All patients admitted to the pediatric inpatient study units of participating hospitals
  • Parents/caregivers of patients less than 18 years of age who speak English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or Spanish
  • Nurses working on these units
  • Residents working on these units
  • Medical students working on these units

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Parents/caregivers who do not speak a study language (decided based on the 5 most commonly spoken languages across study sites; study languages include: English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish)
  • Parents/caregivers of patients greater than 18 years of age

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
No Intervention: Pre-intervention
Before implementation of Patient and Family Centered I-PASS.
Experimental: Post-intervention
After implementation of Patient and Family Centered I-PASS.
Behavioral: Patient and Family Centered I-PASS
Patient and Family-Centered I-PASS is a bundle of communication interventions to improve the quality of information exchange between physicians, nurses, and families, and to better integrate families into all aspects of daily decision making in hospitals. The intervention included a health literacy-informed, structured communication framework for family-centered rounds; written rounds summaries for families; a training and learning program; and strategies to support teamwork and implementation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of Medical Errors
Time Frame: 6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Our primary outcome was the rate of medical errors, including harmful errors (preventable adverse events) and non-harmful errors. Medical errors and adverse events were measured per 1000 patient-days before and after implementation of Patient and Family Centered I-PASS using an established systematic safety surveillance methodology. Trained research clinicians reviewed patient medical charts, hospital incident reports, family safety interviews, and staff reports for potential errors and adverse events. Trained physician-reviewers blinded to pre- vs. post-intervention status then categorized all suspected incidents as either adverse events, non-harmful errors, or exclusions. Adverse events that were clearly caused by a medical error were subsequently deemed preventable and all other cases were categorized as non-preventable.
6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of Non-Preventable Adverse Events
Time Frame: 6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
An additional measure of interest was the rate of non-preventable adverse events. Medical errors and adverse events were measured per 1000 patient-days before and after implementation of Patient and Family Centered I-PASS using an established systematic safety surveillance methodology. Trained research clinicians reviewed patient medical charts, hospital incident reports, family safety interviews, and staff reports for potential errors and adverse events. Trained physician-reviewers blinded to pre- vs. post-intervention status then categorized all suspected incidents as either adverse events, non-harmful errors, or exclusions. Adverse events that were clearly caused by a medical error were subsequently deemed preventable and all other cases were categorized as non-preventable.
6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Family Experience With Care
Time Frame: 6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Family experience before and after implementation. Experience was measured using a 10-15 minute survey verbally administered prior to discharge. Parents were asked to rate various aspects of their experience with care. This included experience during and after rounds, experience with written communication, experience with physicians and nurses, and overall hospital experience. The survey was developed, cognitively tested, and piloted at a non-intervention site (Boston Children's Hospital) and translated into Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. We compared percent top-box experience ratings pre- vs. post-intervention using a GEE chi-squared test for binary outcomes, clustered by site. Top-box score was calculated as the percentage of participants that gave the top-most response for the given survey item (e.g., 5=Extremely; 5=Excellent). Missing data was accounted for through use of multiple imputations appropriate for missing data in clustered studies.
6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Quality of Communication on Rounds
Time Frame: 6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Changes in quality of communication during rounds processes were assessed before and after implementation based on: (a) real-time structured direct observations of rounds (n=653) and (b) post-hoc analyses of audio-recordings of a subset of rounds observations (n=164). Research assistants conducted 1-hour weekly in-person rounds observation sessions per site, simultaneously completing a real-time assessment tool for each patient and audio-recording rounds. Site research clinicians blinded to pre- vs. post-intervention status conducted post-hoc analyses of a subset of rounds audio recordings using a structured assessment tool to measure rounding team adherence. Percent top-box ratings pre- vs. post-intervention were compared using a GEE chi-squared test for binary outcomes, clustered by site. Top-box score was calculated as the percentage of participants that gave the top-most response (e.g., 5=Excellent). Missing data were accounted for through use of multiple imputations.
6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Shared Understanding Between Parent, Resident, and Nurse
Time Frame: 6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)
Shared understanding between parent, resident, and nurse was measured before and after implementation of the Patient and Family Centered I-PASS intervention.
6 months (3 months pre, 3 months post) per site (7 sites total)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Boston Children's Hospital

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Christopher P Landrigan, MD, MPH, Boston Children's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
December 15, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
January 3, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
January 3, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 12, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 16, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
December 19, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 1, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 17, 2020

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • CDR-1306-03556

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Communication

Clinical Trials on Patient and Family Centered I-PASS

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings