The SANDWICH Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sedation AND Weaning in Children: the SANDWICH Trial
IRAS ID
209448
Contact name
Bronagh Blackwood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen’s University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Mechanical ventilation is a common lifesaving therapy, but the longer a child remains on the ventilator, the more risk they have of developing problems. For this reason, getting the child off the ventilator (called weaning) is an important patient outcome. Sedative drugs are necessary so the child can tolerate the breathing tube, but too much can make them sleepy and delay coming off the ventilator.
In 2014, we visited 24 Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) and found that weaning is usually performed by doctors and occasionally senior nurses, but weaning was not always done the same way and, because everyone was not involved, it was often disjointed.
This study will determine if a coordinated approach by doctors and nurses to optimise sedation and weaning using guidelines will reduce how long patients are on a ventilator without causing any increased risk, will reduce the time children spend in a PICU and the hospital, is cost effective in the NHS and can easily be adopted by staff delivering care.Children receiving ventilation, except those that will never come off a ventilator, will be weaned using the guidelines.
We will start collecting data in all PICUs at the same time from the very beginning of the study when they are weaning children according to usual practice. Each month, one unit will be chosen at random and we will train the staff to use the new guidelines. The unit will continue using the new guidelines for the rest of the trial. We will compare data collected before (usual care) and after (intervention) training. During the study we will interview staff and ask them their views on the new approach.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0301
Date of REC Opinion
12 Sep 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion