The purpose of this study is to test whether automatic reminders with a light and a soft sound help patients improve deep breathing exercises after surgery. These breathing exercises are routinely done with the help of a plastic device that you attach to your mouth and you take a deep breath. These exercises are routinely recommended after major surgery to improve the oxygen level in your blood and reduce other respiratory problems.
The goal of this project is to evaluate whether automatic reminders increase incentive spirometry performance (IS) and reduce hypoxemia during the first three postoperative days after inpatient non-cardiac surgery in patients with a preoperative ARISCAT risk score ≥26. This three-center pilot study will first test the effectiveness of automatic IS reminders, compared to no reminders, on the quality of performance for three postoperative days after inpatient non-cardiac surgery. Then we will estimate the effect size of IS reminders on postoperative hypoxemia and other complications.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
88
Alarms are turned ON. The alarms include a dim light and soft buzz every twenty minutes during waking hours.
Median IS breaths per hour
Median adequate IS breaths per hour within eligible hours of all patients in each reminder group
Time frame: Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) admission to postoperative day 3 (POD3)
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