Common Canister Protocol for Inhaler Administration in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

BJC HealthCare

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 4

Conditions: Ventilator Associated Pneumonia

Treatments: Other: Common canister

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01935388

BJH CCP

Details and patient eligibility

About

Many hospitals employ a common canister inhaler protocol in patients that do not require mechanical ventilator support. Common canister refers to a single inhaler paired with standardized cleaning methods for use on more than one patient. Small reports suggest that this method does not pose an increased infectious risk and is associated with significant cost savings.

Common canister protocols offer a solution to the discordance between inhaler sizes and average inpatient use of the drugs. Metered dose inhaler canisters are contain enough drug for several days to weeks of daily use. However, the average length of stay for most inpatients is only several days. Therefore, most inpatients do not use all of the canister contents, an unused resource that is potentially wasted.

The common canister approach has not been previously described in mechanically ventilated patients (people requiring intensive care unit admission on breathing machines). This study aims to assess the safety of common canister utilization by assessment and comparison of infection rates in the study and control group.

Enrollment: 354 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• mechanically ventilated patients prescribed bronchodilator therapy in a medical intensive care unit

Exclusion criteria

• lung transplant
• neutropenic
• contact isolation

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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354 participants in 2 patient groups

Common canister

Experimental group

Description:

Use of a single MDI (instead of assigning each patient an individual MDI) for multiple mechanically ventilated patients. Inhalers will undergo a stringent cleaning protocol between administrations and storage.

Treatment:

Other: Common canister

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Each patient will be assigned an individual inhaler as per standard of care practice.