SWISH Pilot Study v1.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Randomised control trial comparing high flow weaning strategies for infants with bronchiolitis: Pilot study
IRAS ID
268661
Contact name
Martin Edwards
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff & Vale University Health Board
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
https://register.clinicaltrials.gov/, CardiffNHS record 19/OCT/7769
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Bronchiolitis is a common type of chest infection that tends to affect babies and young children under a year old. The symptoms of bronchiolitis start like those of a common cold. It then affects the bronchioles which are the smaller breathing tubes in the lungs. They produce more mucus than usual and become swollen, leading to a cough and a runny nose. In more severe cases, the tubes become clogged up with mucus which causes breathing problems.
Around 2 in 100 infants with bronchiolitis will need to spend some time in hospital during the course of their illness. This is usually for one of two reasons: they need oxygen treatment to keep their oxygen saturations within acceptable levels or they cannot manage to feed from the breast or a bottle because of a blocked nose or difficulty breathing.
Here at the Children’s Hospital for Wales we are using ‘High flow’ to deliver oxygen. This is a relatively new concept on the general paediatric wards, and more established in a setting such as High Dependency Unit (HDU). However, we have been using it successfully on the wards for the last 3 years.Research has shown that the early use of high flow can reduce the chances of the child needing escalation of care to a high dependency unit or paediatric intensive care unit.
We are interested in studying the process of weaning high flow support once the child is over the worst of their illness. This will enable us to use the most effective method of weaning babies from their high flow, and ready for discharge. This has the potential to reduce the number of hours spent in hospital for babies and their parents or guardians.
REC name
Wales REC 1
REC reference
20/WA/0205
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion