A family voice and a glimpse of home: a new weapon against ICU delirium?
NCT ID NCT07776002
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
First seen Aug 20, 2026 · Last updated Aug 21, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This trial tests whether a short, personalized audiovisual program—featuring a family member's voice, current date and weather, and images of the hospital's surroundings—can prevent delirium and reduce agitation and pain in adults aged 55 and older in an emergency intensive care unit. Participants receive the 2-minute session three times daily for two days, starting within 24 hours of admission. Researchers will compare their outcomes with those receiving routine care alone, measuring delirium, agitation, and pain over the two-day period.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only — not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- A personalized audiovisual intervention featuring a family member's message, date and weather updates, and local images, delivered for 2 minutes three times daily.
- What this could lead to
- If effective, this simple, non-drug approach could offer a new way to prevent delirium and reduce agitation and pain in older intensive care patients.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, non-randomized study, so results may not apply broadly. The intervention is brief and may not overcome the many factors that trigger delirium in critical illness.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 128 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Aug 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A government agency
The lead sponsor is a government body.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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55 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Aged 55 years or older. 2. Admitted to the emergency intensive care unit within the previous 24 hours. 3. No delirium at baseline, defined as a negative Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit assessment and a CAM-ICU-7 score of 0-2. 4. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score ≥14. 5. Sufficiently alert to communicate, with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of E4V4-5M6 or E4VTM6. 6. Diagnosed with an infection or an infection-related critical illness, such as sepsis, urinary tract infection, or pneumonia. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Diagnosed visual or hearing impairment that would interfere with receiving the audiovisual intervention. 2. History of substance abuse. 3. History of psychiatric illness. 4. Moribund status, receipt of a palliative care consultation, or an expected survival of 7 days or less. 5. Unable to communicate in Mandarin Chinese or Taiwanese Hokkien. 6. No family caregiver available to participate in preparation of the audiovisual intervention. 7. History of surgery within the previous 7 days. 8. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score \<23.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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