EEG sedation monitoring in paediatric road transfers v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility study on the use of EEG monitoring for sedation, in paediatric patients, muscle relaxed for road transfer
IRAS ID
333327
Contact name
Stephen Hancock
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
Paediatric services are spread throughout regional hospitals and specialist hospitals. Intensive care is provided by specialist hospitals. Patients who present to, or become critically unwell, in regional hospitals require transfer to specialist hospitals for intensive care. The paediatric transport team transfers these patients once stabilised in the regional hospital. This stabilisation often results in patients being ventilated via a breathing tube, prior to transfer.
Patients receive sedation and pain relief whilst on the ventilator. The need to increase these medicines can usually be evaluated by assessing patients’ behaviour. To facilitate a safe transfer, patients often receive a muscle relaxant medication, that prevents muscle movement. This is to prevent the breathing tube accidentally becoming displaced, as well as to help synchronising breathing with the ventilator. By giving this muscle relaxant, we are unable to assess sedation and pain by patient behaviour.
EEG involves looking at the electricity across the brain, via probes on the head and scalp. As sedation increases, this activity becomes less. This can be used on patients receiving a muscle relaxant to assess sedation. It is widely used in surgical theatres to monitor depth of anaesthesia during surgery.
This research project is looking at how feasible it is to use EEG, during ambulance transfer, of paediatric patients, who are on a ventilator and receiving a muscle relaxant.
We will look at the brain activity score (a marker of sedation), the amount of sedation the patient is on, and the patients vital signs i.e. heart rate and bloods pressure. We will also collect data on the patient presentation, the working diagnosis and other medication received to see if any of these have any impact on our data.
We hope to identify if using EEG in these children is feasible and therefore a possible useful adjunct to sedation monitoring during a paediatric transfer.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0243
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jan 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion