NCT06283953

Brief Summary

The goal of this trial is to advance the understanding of how to best support caregivers of children with tracheostomies who are caring for their child at home. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • What are the best ways to support caregivers post-discharge with both medical and nonmedical decisions about resuming life, work, and family activities, while safely caring for their child with a tracheostomy at home?
  • How can the investigators leverage existing technology to facilitate communication between inpatient and outpatient care teams to better support needs of pediatric patients and caregivers post-discharge? Caregiver participants will be randomly assigned to receive Trach Me Home (gold standard discharge program) or Trach Me Home with additional components. Caregiver participants will complete three surveys over the course of 6 months. Researchers will see if caregivers in the Trach Me Home with additional components report lower caregiver burden at 4 weeks post discharge (primary outcome) and fewer hospital readmissions at 6 months than those in Trach Me Home arm.

Trial Health

75
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
480

participants targeted

Target at P75+ for not_applicable

Timeline
17mo left

Started May 2024

Longer than P75 for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

6 active sites

Status
enrolling by invitation

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Progress59%
May 2024Oct 2027

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

February 21, 2024

Completed
7 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

February 28, 2024

Completed
3 months until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

May 16, 2024

Completed
2.5 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

December 1, 2026

Expected
10 months until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

October 1, 2027

Last Updated

October 14, 2025

Status Verified

October 1, 2025

Enrollment Period

2.5 years

First QC Date

February 21, 2024

Last Update Submit

October 9, 2025

Conditions

Keywords

shared decision makingpatient reported outcomestracheostomyventilatorcaregiverdischarge programpediatric

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Caregiver Burden

    Pediatric Tracheostomy Health Status Instrument (PTHSI) Caregiver burden subscale, total scores range from 0-68. Higher scores indicate higher burden.

    4 weeks post-discharge

Secondary Outcomes (6)

  • Medical Complications Associated with Tracheostomy

    6 months post-discharge

  • 6-month Readmission Rate

    6 months post-discharge

  • Frequency of pediatrician communication

    6 months post-discharge

  • Primary care pediatrician satisfaction

    6 months post-discharge

  • Medical Complications Associated with Tracheostomy

    4 weeks post-discharge

  • +1 more secondary outcomes

Other Outcomes (1)

  • Number of readmissions

    6 months post discharge

Study Arms (4)

Active Comparator Caregivers

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

TrachMeHome program delivered in the hospital including education, skills training and case management for caregivers

Behavioral: Trach Me Home

Intervention Caregivers

EXPERIMENTAL

Trach Me Home and Trach Plus with additional education, outpatient care team communication and social support for caregivers.

Behavioral: Trach PlusBehavioral: Trach Me Home

Active Comparator Physicians

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Primary care physicians' of the enrolled participant's child receiving discharge communication

Behavioral: Trach Me Home

Intervention Physicians

EXPERIMENTAL

Primary care physicians' of the enrolled participant's child receiving outpatient care team communication prior to discharge

Behavioral: Trach PlusBehavioral: Trach Me Home

Interventions

Trach PlusBEHAVIORAL

The Trach Plus program includes education, social support, and outreach to outpatient care team.

Intervention CaregiversIntervention Physicians
Trach Me HomeBEHAVIORAL

The Trach Me Home discharge program includes caregiver education, skills training and case management.

Active Comparator CaregiversActive Comparator PhysiciansIntervention CaregiversIntervention Physicians

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years+
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Lead or primary adult caregiver (18 or older) of infants or children (0-17 years old) with tracheostomy who are planning for discharge to home, including children who are dependent on ventilator

You may not qualify if:

  • Patients transferred to other hospital or facility (and/or not discharged to home during study period)
  • Primary caregiver unable to read or write in English, Spanish, Mandarin, or Arabic
  • Not residing in the U.S. for at least 12 months after discharge

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (6)

University of San Diego Rady Children's Hospital

La Jolla, California, 92093, United States

Location

Children's National Medical Center, Children's Research Institute

Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, United States

Location

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, United States

Location

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55404, United States

Location

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Cincinnati, Ohio, 45229, United States

Location

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19146, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

  • Sepucha K, Callans K, Leavitt L, Chang Y, Vo H, Brigger M, Broughton S, Cahill J, Chinnadurai S, Germann J, Giordano T, Greenlick-Michals H, Javia L, Jayawardena ADL, Osthimer J, Patel RC, Redmann A, Roumiantsev S, Simmons L, Smith M, Tate M, Warren M, Whalen K, Yager P, Zalzal H, Hartnick C. Boosting REsources And caregiver empowerment for Tracheostomy care at HomE (BREATHE) Study: study protocol for a stratified randomization trial. Trials. 2024 Oct 28;25(1):722. doi: 10.1186/s13063-024-08522-x.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Caregiver Burden

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress, PsychologicalBehavioral SymptomsBehavior

Study Officials

  • Karen Sepucha, PhD

    Massachusetts General Hospital

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
  • Christopher Hartnick, MD

    Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary / Massachusetts General Hospital

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
SINGLE
Who Masked
OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
Masking Details
Blinding of care team delivering the interventions and of caregiver participants receiving the interventions is not possible for this study. The outcome assessors collecting the readmission data and statistician conducting analyses will be blinded to the assignment.
Purpose
HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
PI Title
Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

February 21, 2024

First Posted

February 28, 2024

Study Start

May 16, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2027

Last Updated

October 14, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-10

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

To promote research replicability, transparency and future use of the data, de-identified data sets will be created and will be available, by request, to outside researchers. The Data Package (comprised of the de-identified Analyzable Data Set, Full Protocol, metadata, data dictionary, full statistical analysis plan, and analytic code from the project) will be deposited in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's Data Repository at the ICPSR. Participant information sheets for the study will indicate that de-identified information will be deposited in an open access service to promote use of the data by other researchers. No information that contains identifiers or that could be used to link an individual to the data will be included in the de-identified data set. No data will be provided from qualitative transcripts as this may lead to identifying information about participants. However, codes abstracted from qualitative transcripts may be made available.

Shared Documents
STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
Time Frame
After study results have been published, about 1 year after the end of the funded grant period, the study materials and de-identified data will be placed on an open access service such as ICPSR where they will be available indefinitely.
Access Criteria
Researchers may access the data through the PCORI-designated repository (ICPSR's website) once it is made available.

Locations