Study protocol: The Improving Care of Acute Lung Injury Patients (ICAP) study

Table 1 Exposures assessed in the Improving Care of ALI Patients (ICAP) study

Exposure	Instrument	Data source	Time(s) of assessment	Time required^a (minutes)
Patient-based exposures
Demographics, baseline medications^b, ICU/hospital admitting diagnosis	Custom-made	Chart review	Enrollment	18
Comorbidities	Charlson Index [21]	Chart review	Enrollment	5
Severity of illness	APACHE II [20]	Chart review	Enrollment	7
	SOFA [22]	Chart review	ICU stay (daily)	3
Sedation	RASS [23,24]	Patient exam	ICU stay (daily)	<1
Delirium	CAM-ICU [25]	Patient exam	ICU stay (daily)	1
Laboratory values^c	Custom-made	Chart review	ICU stay (daily)	3
Clinical management exposures
Use of lower tidal volume ventilation	Custom-made	Chart review	ICU stay (twice daily)	14
Medications^b, physical and occupational therapy	Custom-made	Chart review	ICU stay (daily); discharge	15
Tracheotomy timing, dialysis, blood products, nutritional support	Custom-made	Chart review	ICU stay (daily)	8
ICU organizational exposures
Staff:patient ratio	Custom-made	Nurse and RT	ICU stay (twice weekly)	3
ICU occupancy	Custom-made	Charge nurse	ICU stay (twice weekly)	3
Use of treatment protocols	Custom-made	Chart review	ICU stay (daily)	1

ALI, acute lung injury; APACHE, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation; CAM-ICU, Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU; ICU, intensive care unit; RASS, Richmond Agitation–Sedation Scale; RT, respiratory therapist; SOFA, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment.
^aDerived from pilot testing. The total time for assessment at enrollment is 30 minutes and for daily ICU data collection is 45 minutes per patient. ^bIncludes anti-psychotics, sedatives, narcotics, steroids, insulin, oral hypoglycemics, diuretics, erythropoietin, iron/vitamins. For the in-patient portion of the study, data are also collected on neuromuscular blockers, specific antibiotics and antifungals, and activated protein C [52]. ^c Includes blood sugar (measured twice daily, as well as daily minimum and maximum); lowest daily hemoglobin, platelet count, and albumin; highest daily creatinine and creatine kinase.

ISSN: 1364-8535