# Navigating Patients and Families through the Neuro-ICU

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2021 · $189,404

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Every day in hospitals across the world, severe acute brain injury devastates patients and their
families and challenges clinicians with a unique set of clinical care issues. As these patients with
stroke or traumatic brain injury present with acute and neurologically devastating injury, their
outcomes rely on early treatment decisions, and these decisions are virtually all made through
discussions with surrogate decision makers and organized by critical care, neurosurgery or
neurology clinicians who do not know these patients. Despite the remarkable recent advances in
acute neurological care, morbidity and mortality remain high. With palliative care increasingly
recognized as specialized medical care for patients with serious illness that focuses on improving
communication about goals of care and quality of life, there remains a critical gap in understanding
palliative care needs specific to patients with severe acute brain injury and their families. The long-
term goal of this career development award is to promote Dr. Creutzfeldt's development into an
independent physician-scientist working to understand and improve the quality of care early after
severe acute brain injury. Dr. Creutzfeldt will conduct a prospective cohort study employing an
established palliative care needs checklist that is in daily use in our neurological intensive care unit
(neuro-ICU). The aims of this project are to identify those patients and families at highest risk for
poor outcome and at highest need for a palliative care intervention, and to test the feasibility of a
multifaceted communication intervention to meet the palliative care needs of this unique patient
population and their families. To support her career development, Dr. Creutzfeldt proposes an
integrated curriculum consisting of practical experience in designing, conducting and publishing
clinical research; coursework in epidemiology, biostatistics and health services research; and
intensive mentoring by experts in the fields of palliative care, neurology and critical care. Moreover,
she will develop expertise in survey-based outcome assessment, clustered and longitudinal
statistical methods, and qualitative data collection and analysis. This proposal has important
implications for patients with severe acute brain injury and their families. Understanding the
specific palliative care needs and how they affect long-term outcomes will inform the development
of palliative care interventions to reduce distress and improve outcomes for these patients and
their families.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10225307
- **Project number:** 5K23NS099421-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Claire Johanna Creutzfeldt
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $189,404
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10225307

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10225307, Navigating Patients and Families through the Neuro-ICU (5K23NS099421-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10225307. Licensed CC0.

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