Artikel
The INES study protocol: assessing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a smart home emergency call system
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Autoren
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Hanna Rehse
- Arbeitsgruppe für Gesundheitsökonomie und Gesundheitsmanagement, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Universität Bielefeld, Deutschland
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Lena Hasemann
- Vandage GmbH, Bielefeld, Deutschland
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Kristina Ludwig
- Arbeitsgruppe für Gesundheitsökonomie und Gesundheitsmanagement, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Universität Bielefeld, Deutschland
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Johanna Kampmann
- Techniker Krankenkasse, Hamburg, Deutschland
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Thomas Nebling
- Techniker Krankenkasse, Hamburg, Deutschland
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Ulrich Thiem
- Medizinisch-Geriatrische Klinik – Albertinen-Haus, Hamburg, Deutschland
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Wolfgang Greiner
- Arbeitsgruppe für Gesundheitsökonomie und Gesundheitsmanagement, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Universität Bielefeld, Deutschland
| Veröffentlicht: | 10. September 2024 |
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Gliederung
Text
Background: Falls can lead to serious health-related consequences in the older population. In case of emergency within the domestic environment of an older person living alone and being unable to call for help, the initiation of emergency care can be delayed. Smart home emergency call systems (HECS) are able to detect falls and automatically trigger an emergency alarm, possibly reducing time to emergency care and improving outcomes.
Objective: The study aims to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a smart HECS. The primary hypothesis is that the mean hospital length of stay after an emergency admission is lower for patients receiving care with a smart HECS compared to patients equipped with a standard HECS or without a HECS.
Methods:
Design: The study is a prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in three German federal states. The trial consists of two study arms, A and B. Assignment to the study arms depends on prior use of a standard HECS (study arm A) or no prior use (study arm B). Within both study arms, participants are randomized into intervention group (IG) and control group (CG) using a block randomization aiming for an equal size of both groups.
Participants: The study includes participants who are at least 70 years old and are at risk of falling detected by a telephone interview. Following the sample size calculation, it is aimed to recruit N = 444 participants in study arm A and N = 1.226 participants in study arm B.
Intervention: Participants in the IG receive a smart HECS during the observation period of 21 months. In addition to a standard HECS with a base station and a wearable radio transmitter, the smart HECS has sensors that are able to detect falls and automatically trigger an alarm.
Outcomes: The primary outcome assessed will be the days spent in hospital after an emergency admission. Secondary outcomes include claims of benefits and their total costs, progression of care, development of fear of falling (FES-I), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L), and wellbeing (ICECAP-O).
Results: Results of the study will indicate whether the use of a smart HECS is superior to standard care in reducing the hospital length of stay in the older population at risk of falling. At the conference, the study design and results of the recruitment process will be presented.
Implication for research and/or (healthcare) practice: This is the first RCT to evaluate effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of smart HECS in Germany. If smart HECS were able to reduce the hospital length of stay after emergency admission, those systems yield the potential to improve health outcomes in older people living alone.
Funding: Innovationsfonds/Versorgungsforschung; Project name: INES – Effiziente Einleitung von Notfallinterventionen mit Hilfe intelligenter Notfallerkennungssysteme bei allein lebenden Senioren; Grant number: 01NVF21102
