Reducing Error in ER Settings Through Attention Restoration Theory (RESTART)

RESTART Trials: Reducing Error in ER Settings Through Attention Restoration Theory

The purpose of this research study is to find out about how looking at different types of pictures can affect people's attention spans. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) suggests that there are two types of attention. One type (directed attention) can become tired and cause people to make mistakes. The other type (involuntary attention) gives directed attention a chance to rest, so people make less mistakes. Certain types of pictures are good at capturing involuntary attention. We think that capturing involuntary attention will help emergency physicians make less mistakes on tests of attention. This study will allow us to learn more about it.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Attention Fatigue, Attention Restoration
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Nature slides; Behavioral: Urban slides

Detailed Description

In this study, participants will be asked to do the following things:

1. Before their usual shift in the emergency department, arrive ten minutes early to rate their mood and complete a Digit Span Backwards (DSB) task that tests their memory of different sets of numbers.
2. Five hours into their shift, they will take a ten minute break.
3. During this break, they will be randomly assigned to view either a picture presentation of nature slides or urban slides.
4. After the presentation, they will complete the Digit Span Backwards task again, they will rate their mood again, then return to their shift.

Participation in this study will last up to 30 minutes. Approximately fifty individuals will participate in this study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Emergency Medicine Resident of any PGY level. (1-5)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Anybody under the age of 18
• Pregnancy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Nature	Behavioral: Nature slides; participants will view a presentation of nature slides
SHAM_COMPARATOR: Urban	Behavioral: Urban slides; participants will view a presentation of urban slides

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Working memory	Working memory will be assessed using the Digit Span test. Participants are read a sequence of numbers and asked to repeat the same sequence back to the examiner in order (forward span) or in reverse order (backward span). Number of correctly repeated numbers is summed to yield a score ranging from 0 to 28. Higher scores indicated better working memory	5 hours
Positive mood	Positive mood will be assess using the positive affect (PA) scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The PA scale consists of 10 adjectives which are rated on a 5 point scale from slightly or not at all to extremely. Items are summed to yield a score ranging from 10 to 50 with higher number indicating higher affect.	5 hours
Negative mood	Negative mood will be assess using the negative affect (NA) scale of the PANAS. The NA scale consists of 10 adjectives which are rated on a 5 point scale from slightly or not at all to extremely. Items are summed to yield a score ranging from 10 to 50 with higher number indicating higher affect.	5 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Virginia Commonwealth University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stephen Miller, DO, Virginia Commonwealth University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ANTICIPATED): April 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): May 1, 2021
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): May 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 24, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 24, 2020
• First Posted (ACTUAL): August 27, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): April 23, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 20, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Fatigue
• Other Study ID Numbers: HM20019844

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No