Supporting Safe Use of Medications by Parents After Infant Discharge From the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

August 25, 2026 updated by: NYU Langone Health

A Randomized, Controlled Study of a Health Literacy-informed Technology-based Approach to Support Safe Medication Use by Parents After Discharge of Infants From the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

This is a randomized controlled study of parents of children to be discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit at Bellevue and Elmhurst hospitals. A total of 425 subjects will be recruited across two sites over preparatory phases and two primary study phases.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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

Our overarching goal is to promote safe medication use/adherence for high-risk infants, by leveraging health literacy approaches and mobile technology to reinforce provider counseling and support parent medication management after discharge from the NICU. We will adapt/integrate evidence-based strategies studied in less complex populations, for this vulnerable group. The HELPix (Health Education and Literacy for Parents) pictogram-based intervention, developed by our team, incorporates these strategies, with sizeable improvements found in medication knowledge, dosing errors, and adherence in outpatient general pediatric settings, but to date, HELPix has not been studied in NICU settings

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.
36

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 Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10016
        • NYU Langone Health

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. English or Spanish-speaking
  2. 18 years of age and older
  3. Child discharged home with a Rx for >1 daily liquid medication (other than multivitamin)
  4. Primary person who will administers child's medications.
  5. Willingness and ability to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Does not have a working phone number
  2. Does not have access to internet (via computer/smartphone)
  3. Does not have a mobile phone that receives texts.
  4. Not able to return to the hospital for their child's follow-up visit
  5. Visual acuity worse than 20/50 according to the Rosenbaum Pocket Screener
  6. Uncorrectable hearing impairment

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

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: Usual Care
Current usual care includes standard discharge counseling by a nurse, with or without additional MD counseling.
Experimental: HELPix
HELPix parents will receive usual care as above, after which trained staff will generate HELPix patient-/regimen-specific medication instruction sheets and review them with the parent.
Other: HELPix
HELPix parents will receive usual care as above, after which trained staff will generate HELPix patient-/regimen-specific medication instruction sheets and review them with the parent. Instruction sheets include optimized instructions (mL-only, doses appropriately rounded, visuals of recommended tool (e.g. 1-mL syringe best for doses of <1 mL), explicit frequency information (e.g. 'morning and night' instead of '2x/day') reinforced by pictograms (e.g. sun/moon icons)). For each medication, staff will: 1) review the dose (refer to the pictographic dose diagram, which illustrates optimal dosing tool filled to correct amount), 2) demonstrate the dose using optimal dosing tool, 3) ask parent to 'teachback'/'showback' dose (e.g. parent shows provider how much they would give by pulling back plunger on syringe to right level), 4) provide optimal dosing tool for the parent to take home. We anticipate this process will take ~5-10 minutes.
Experimental: HELPix+Tech
After parent receives usual care and HELPix (as above), trained staff will walk parent through the app on-boarding process to overcome initial barriers to use. Steps: 1) Parent texted link to personalized on-line instructions. 2) Parent clicks link to app
Other: HELPix+Tech
After parent receives usual care and HELPix , trained staff will walk parent through the app on-boarding process to overcome initial barriers to use. Steps: 1) Parent texted link to personalized on-line instructions. 2) Parent clicks link to app. For each medicine: A. Dosing module with optimized instructions (c/w HELPix); parent teachback/showback of dose B. Frequency module supports simplified, explicit intervals (e.g. 'morning and night'), parent chooses convenient times (text reminders sent based on preferences). Time for TECH depends on # medicines and parent baseline knowledge; structured protocol used to see # teachback rounds needed .

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
Improvement in Dosing with HELPix+TECH and HELPix in comparison to usual care.
Time Frame: Visit 3 (Day 30)
HELPix (health literacy-informed written materials and verbal counseling in addition to usual care) and HELPix+TECH (a health literacy-informed web application in addition to HELPix and usual care) will result in improved dosing compared to usual care alone. This will be assessed by the percentage of observed dosing error (whether clinically meaningful errors of >20% deviation and/or large error of >40% deviation).
Visit 3 (Day 30)
Improvement in medication adherence with HELPix+TECH and HELPix in comparison to usual care
Time Frame: Visit 3 (Day 30)
HELPix (health literacy-informed written materials and verbal counseling in addition to usual care) and HELPix+TECH (a health literacy-informed web application in addition to HELPix and usual care) will result in improved medication adherence compared to usual care alone. This will be assessed by the percentage of poor medication adherence (>20% deviation from # prescribed doses).
Visit 3 (Day 30)

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.
NYU Langone Health

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: Hsiang Sharon Yin, NYU Langone

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.
March 10, 2021

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 9, 2026

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.
April 8, 2026

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).
January 9, 2020

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.
February 18, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

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.
February 20, 2020

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.
August 27, 2026

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 25, 2026

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, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

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.
  • 19-01294

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices).

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

The investigator who proposed to use the data. Upon reasonable request

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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.

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