Multi-component Family Support Tool Intervention (FST)

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Critical Illness

In brief

The National Academy of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have called for urgent action to improve the care delivered to the nearly 1,000,000 older Americans who die in intensive care units (ICUs) annually or survive with substantial impairments. These patients often die with distressing symptoms and may receive more invasive, life-prolonging treatment than they would choose for themselves. Moreover, their family members acting as surrogate decision-makers often experience lasting psychological distress from the ICU experience. We will conduct a multicenter randomized trial among 370 incapacitated, critically ill older adult patients at high risk of death or severe functional impairment, their surrogate decision-makers, and their ICU clinicians to determine whether a multi-component family support intervention can improve the patient- and family-centeredness of care (primary outcome), as well as positively impact a variety of other patient, family, and healthcare delivery outcomes. The multicomponent intervention involves: Proactive family meetings scheduled within 48 hours of ICU admission and approximately every 5-7 days after that. Surrogates will have access (computer, tablet, or mobile phone) to the interactive web-based Family Support Tool. The tool will familiarize families with the ICU and prepare them for their interactions with the clinical team by completing specific sections of the Family Support Tool upon study enrollment, before family meetings, and any other time they wish. The ICU team will receive a tool-generated summary of information about the family before each family meeting, including their main questions and concerns, information about the patient's values and preferences, prognostic expectations, and unmet psychological needs.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT05019261
Run by
University of Pittsburgh
People needed
1039
Starts
2021-11-11
Expected to finish
2026-01-30
Last updated by the study team
2026-05-01

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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