Reiki Intervention for Seriously Ill Elders Intensive Care Unit (RISE-ICU)

Summary

The overall objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting a future large-scale, randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test whether Reiki is superior to sham Reiki and usual care when delivered to critically ill older adults who require mechanical ventilation (MV). Our three-arm, pilot RCT will include 45 subjects and their LARs (45) recruited from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSU-WMC) intensive care units (ICUs) who are randomly allocated 1:1:1 to: 1) Reiki, 2) sham Reiki, or 3) usual care for 5 days or until the subject is discharged from the hospital or expires. The Investigators will perform interviews with the subjects' LARs upon study enrollment to determine the subjects preadmission physical, functional, and cognitive health status. Each subject will be assessed for pain, anxiety, and agitation and have their vital signs taken daily for 5 days using valid and reliable tools. Medical records will be used to record demographic and clinical characteristics. The Investigators will survey each subject and their LAR regarding their experiences with the Reiki, sham Reiki or usual care sessions. Reiki and sham Reiki will be administered for 5 consecutive days even if the subject is transferred to the floor from the ICU. Usual care will also involve a 5-day period. Study Arms. Reiki. Three professional Reiki therapists trained at Level 2 (intermediate) and with a minimum of 2 years of Reiki practice will administer the Reiki intervention. Sham Reiki. Three actors will administer sham Reiki. Usual Care. Subjects assigned to usual care will not receive Reiki or sham Reiki. The usual care group will undergo the same in-person symptom assessments and electronic health record (EHR) reviews as the Reiki and sham Reiki groups. Reiki therapy is not part of usual care in the participating ICUs. The knowledge gained from this study will contribute to a better understanding of how/if a nonpharmacologic intervention can reduce the symptoms experienced by critically ill older adults.

Conditions

• Mechanical Ventilation Complication
• Complementary Health Approach

Interventions

OTHER

Reiki therapy

Reiki, a complementary health approach where trained practitioners place their hands lightly on or just above a person, in discrete positions, with the goal of facilitating the person's own healing response. Reiki therapists will administer the Reiki intervention (i.e., a 30-minute treatment in which the subject is lightly touched for 3 minutes at each of 10 standardized Reiki hand positions).

OTHER

Sham Reiki

Sham (pretend) Reiki therapists will administer the sham Reiki intervention (i.e., a 30-minute treatment in which the subject is lightly touched for 3 minutes at each of 10 standardized Reiki hand positions). Sham providers do not have Reiki training.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ohio State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Michele Balas, PhD, RN · Ohio State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

55 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-10-24

Primary Completion

2020-03-06

Completion

2020-03-06

Countries

• United States

Study Locations