The SleepTrackTXT2 Randomized Trial With Air-medical Personnel (SleepTrack2)

University of Pittsburgh

Status: Completed

Conditions: Poor Quality Sleep; Fatigue

Treatments: Behavioral: SleepTrackTXT2

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02783027

PRO16030345

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overarching goal of this proposal is to address the MedEvac foundation priority of educational techniques and technologies and improve Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) safety by determining if overall sleep quality and intra-shift fatigue of HEMS clinicians can be improved with real-time assessment and intervention.

Aim 1: To determine the short-term impact of an enhanced SleepTrackTXT intervention on HEMS clinician fatigue reported in real-time during and at the end of shift work.

Aim 2: To determine the long-term impact of the SleepTrackTXT intervention on sleep quality and sleep health indicators including hours of sleep and recovery between shift work.

Full description

The investigators will examine short term impact by examining self-reported fatigue captured at the start, during, and end of scheduled shifts.

The investigators will determine longer-term impact on sleep quality by comparing scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) taken at baseline and then again at 4 months.

Enrollment: 83 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 100 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years of age and older
• working clinically at a study site
• currently working in shifts
• has a smart phone and
• willing to take part in a research study that requires the sending and receiving of multiple text messages daily over 4-months

Exclusion criteria

• does not meet inclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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83 participants in 2 patient groups

SleepTrackTXT2

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive text-message based assessment during shift work (intra-shift) and between shifts (inter-shift). Participants in the experimental group that report high levels of fatigue, sleepiness, or difficulty with concentration during shift work (intra-shift) will receive tailored text-messages promoting adoption of behaviors that can improve alertness. Participants will also receive a summary of their sleep debt once a week and suggestions for paying back sleep debt. Participants will also have access to a graphic summary of their sleep hours over previous 30-days.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SleepTrackTXT2

Text-Message Assessments Only

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the non-intervention group/arm will receive text-message based assessment during shift work (intra-shift) and between shifts (inter-shift). The inter-shift assessments will query the participant about his/her sleep hours, fatigue, sleepiness, and difficulty with concentration. No intervention messages sent to this group/arm.