Both Congestive Heart Failure (CHD) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) represent significant burdens for the Veterans Health Administration https://www.va.gov/health healthcare system.
A Clinical Trial https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/shows/NCT02632552 titled “A Technology Assisted Care Transition Intervention for Veterans with CHF or COPD” (TACT), is being sponsored by the VA Office of Research and Development https://www.research.va.gov in collaboration with Northeastern University.
The Clinical Trial initially started May 1, 2018 is being conducted at five VA Health Care Systems in the U.S, with the study estimated to be completed by September 30, 2020. The trial includes veterans 18 years and older with CHF or COPD and the ability and are willing to work with touchscreen technology, plus have a text-enable cellular phone to receive the post discharge text messages
The study proposes a technology-assisted care transition founded on the concept of a virtual nurse able to interact with veterans through different technology channels. The virtual nurse is an anthropomorphized computer program designed to simulate a discharge nurse.
During the inpatient stay, the virtual nurse appears on a computer touch screen to educate veterans with CHF or COPD on how the VA can provide for a care transition by sending and receiving text messages on their mobile phones. The Virtual Nurse first engages with patients onscreen and then texts messages post discharge.
Following discharge to the home, the Virtual Nurse continues to coach veterans, family members, and works to improve post-discharge access to care through two way computer tailored text messaging via VHA’s “HealtheDialog” system.
Summing up, the study aims to:
- Refine methods and collect formative measures to guide implementation
- Conduct a randomized trial for the technology-assisted care transition intervention
- Evaluate the intervention, effectiveness, implementation, and budget impact
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the Virtual Nurse intervention in twelve clinical teams and gather information on the implementation to perform a broader rollout
For more information, email Timothy P. Hogan PhD Principle Investigator at timothy.hogan@va.gov.