Use of a Robot in Medication Management for Older People's Home Care

The Effect of a Robot in Medication Management for Older People's Home Care: a Non-randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Non-randomized controlled clinical trial was used. Data were collected using the Working Time Tracking Form in three data collection points (baseline, at 1 month and at 2 month). The participants were home care professionals who carried out home care clients' medication management. Home care clients were allocated into intervention and control groups (n=64 and 46, respectively) based on whether or not they used the robot. The statistical analysis methods were used.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Unrecognized Condition
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Robot for madication management

Detailed Description

The data were collected using a Working Time Tracking Form, which was developed by professional team for this study. The team included senior lecturer in nursing with medication management competence, head of older people's home care, and home care professional working in older people's home care. The content of the Time Tracking Form was founded on previous literature about the medication management process in home care. The research protocol was planned by the authors before the study and it can be accessed from the corresponding authors on a reasonable request. The home care professionals filled in the Working Time Tracking Form the time in minutes they used for each phase of process i.e. ordering medications, dispensing medications to the doset or dispensing medications to the robot, reconstitution medications, administration of medications in tablets, administration of medications in other routes, medication education, and monitoring the effects of medications. The Working Time Tracking Form was filled in from each client and from each home visit, which included medication management for a five-day period in baseline and in follow up after one and two months.

The expert panel evaluated, and pilot group pre-tested the Time Tracking Form's content validity. The expert panel consisted of seven participants: one head of home care, three home care professionals, and two senior lecturers in nursing with medication management competence, and one statistician. Panel members evaluated each item focusing on usability, but they did not find revision. A pre-test (answers were not included in this study) was performed with 10 home care professionals having the experience using the robot for medication management in older people's home care. This helped evaluate how understandable and clear the Time Tracking Form's content was and how long time it took to be completed.

The SPSS v.26 software was used to analyse data.The characteristics of sample were reported using descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, medians, mean values, and standard deviation.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 110
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Finland
  • Kuopio, Finland, 70201
    • Riitta Turjamaa

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• voluntariness,
• working presently in older people's home care and
• communication in Finnish or English

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Intervention group; In the IG, home care professionals load medications inside the robot, and it enabled older home care clients to carry out medication management by themselves.	Other: Robot for madication management; The effect of a robot in medication management for older people's home care
Sham Comparator: Control group; In the CG, home care professionals manually dispensed medications to doset and administrating medications during their home visits.	Other: Robot for madication management; The effect of a robot in medication management for older people's home care

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Baseline measurement: working time used for medication management during one week	Data were collected using the Working Time Tracking Form. The participants were home care professionals who carried out home care clients' medication management. Home care clients were allocated into intervention and control groups (n=64 and 46, respectively) based on whether or not they used the robot. The statistical analysis methods were used.	One week
Change from baseline working time used for medication management at 1 month during one week	Data were collected using the Working Time Tracking Form. The participants were home care professionals who carried out home care clients' medication management. Home care clients were allocated into intervention and control groups (n=64 and 46, respectively) based on whether or not they used the robot. 1-month measurement was carried out one month after the baseline measurement. The aim of the measurement was to evaluate the change of using a robot for medication management on home care professionals' use of working time.	One week
Change from baseline working time used for medication management at 2 months during one week	Data were collected using the Working Time Tracking Form. The participants were home care professionals who carried out home care clients' medication management. Home care clients were allocated into intervention and control groups (n=64 and 46, respectively) based on whether or not they used the robot. 2-month measurement was carried out two month after the baseline measurement. The aim of the measurement was to evaluate the change of using a robot for medication management on home care professionals' use of working time.	One week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Savonia University of Applied Sciences
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Riitta Turjamaa, PhD, Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 30, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 12, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): November 12, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 6, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 10, 2023
• First Posted (Estimated): June 19, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): June 19, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 10, 2023
• Last Verified: June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: robot; medication management; home-care professional; older people's home care; working time
• Other Study ID Numbers: University of Eastern Finland

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