Vanderbilt Health is conducting a study called “Intubation with Sedation Only to Preserve Independently Respiratory Effort” (INSPIRE). The study seeks to learn whether seriously ill patients being placed on a breathing machine should receive a medication that makes them sleepy (a sedative) by itself or with the addition of a medication that temporarily immobilizes their muscles (a neuromuscular blocker).
For patients being placed on a breathing machine in the Vanderbilt Health emergency department or an intensive care unit:
- When doctors feel giving only a sedative medication would be best, the doctors will give only a sedative medication.
- When doctors feel giving both a sedative and a neuromuscular blocker would be best, the doctors will give both medications.
- When doctors do not have a preference, the patient participates in the INSPIRE study and is assigned to either receive only a sedative or receive both a sedative and a neuromuscular blocker.
To learn more about the study, contact the primary investigator Stephanie DeMasi, MD, at stephanie.demasi@vumc.org or visit the study website at https://www.pragmaticcriticalcare.org/current-trials/inspire/
