Randomized trial of assisted ambulation to improve health outcomes for older medical inpatients

Active Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R01AG073278
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$10,113,776

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.866 Aging Research
Completion date 87% complete
Place of performance
Cleveland, OH 44195, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

Abstract
For older adults, prolonged hospitalization can lead to a devastating loss of mobility and independence. Each year, 12 million adults over the age of 65 are hospitalized, and 30% are discharged to a post-acute care facility. One of the risks of hospitalization is bed rest, which is associated with a number of hospital-acquired complications, including falls, delirium, venous thrombosis and skin breakdown. Hospital mobility programs attempt to ambulate patients up to three times daily, but this work is generally assigned to nurses, who have many competing and often more pressing tasks. Consequently, ambulating patients is the most frequently overlooked nursing duty. This problem has been exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting nursing shortage. Small studies have examined the benefits of mobility technicians (MTS), whose sole job is to safely ambulate patients. These studies have demonstrated that MTS can increase steps taken, but they are too small to prove the impact of MTS on other outcomes, such as whether patients have in-hospital complications or whether they can go home instead of to a post-acute care facility. Hospitals are hesitant to adopt MT programs because they perceive them to be expensive and unproven. We propose to conduct a large randomized trial to test the impact of MTS on short and intermediate term outcomes for 3000 patients aged 65 years and older at 5 hospitals in 2 health systems. Patients will be randomized to receive supervised ambulation up to 3 times daily with a MT or to receive usual care. All participants will wear an accelerometer on their wrist to track their movement throughout the hospital stay. The study has 3 aims. First, we will compare the mobility of patients at discharge (or 10 days) to assess the impact of the MTS on this outcome. We are particularly interested in whether the use of MTS will increase the proportion of patients who can go home VS. Post-acute care, and whether the improvements in mobility are sustained at 30 days. Second, we will use predictive modeling to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from this intervention. Third, we will assess the impact of the intervention on overall costs associated with the episode of care, including inpatient costs and the 30 days after discharge. This information will be important to convince health systems to adopt this approach.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $1,427,402
Amendment $1,640,045
Amendment $1,632,009
Amendment $1,648,031
Amendment $1,648,031
Amendment $1,059,129
Original award $1,059,129

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
Duke University Study description: This trial, the AMBULATE trial, has three primary aims. The first is to determine whether an ambulation program delivered by a mobility… $21,050
Baystate Medical Center, Inc. Baystate Medical Center will contribute as an enrolling site for the proposed clinical trial. In addition, investigators Quinn Pack, MD (site PI) and Peter… $1,009,509
The Lancaster General Hospital Amendment 1 Christian Burchill, PhD will serve as site PI and will contribute to study design, interpretation of results and manuscript preparation and… $32,039

Quick answers

Who received award R01AG073278?

R01AG073278 was awarded to Cleveland Clinic Lerner College Of Medicine Of Case Western Reserve University by National Institute on Aging (National Institutes of Health) on August 1, 2022.

How much is award R01AG073278 worth?

$10,113,776 has been obligated on R01AG073278.

On GovTribe

See this award's full record

  • Every transaction and subaward
  • The recipient's other awards and teaming partners
  • Similar grant awards
  • Ask GovTribe AI about this award