# Improving Identification and Coordination of Mobility Interventions in the ICU Using Clinical Decision Support

> **NIH AHRQ R21** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2024 · $137,434

## Abstract

Project Summary
Patients who require intensive care unit (ICU) level of care frequently develop hospital-acquired
functional decline, a new or worsening loss of ability to perform self-care activities that is
associated with prolonged periods in immobility. This morbidity is potentially preventable
through initiating mobility interventions in the ICU using a multidisciplinary, evidence-based
intervention to maintain functional status. While guidelines for ICU patients' physical activity
exist, timely identification of patients suitable for activity interventions is an ongoing challenge
due to the dynamic nature of critical illness and the number of locations in the electronic health
record (EHR) that clinicians need to click in and out of to synthesize patient data. There is,
therefore, a critical need to develop an effective clinical decision support system (CDSS)
interface in the EHR for efficient identification of patients appropriate for physical activity
interventions and coordination of patient-specific activity plans within the ICU team. Our long-
term goal is to accelerate the development and implementation of clinically useful CDSS to
prevent hospital-acquired functional decline. Our overall objective is to develop a CDSS
interface for consistent patient-specific translation of evidence-based physical activity
interventions for ICU settings, and evaluate its usability, usefulness, cognitive workload,
acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness on decision-making outcomes. The proposed project
has two phases and four specific aims. In Phase 1 (R21), we will develop a useable, useful, and
acceptable CDSS prototype by conducting clinician interviews and a user-centered design
approach (R21 Aim 1), and identify clinical workflow considerations, potential barriers, and
implementation strategies in preparation for evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of the
CDSS (R21 Aim 2). In Phase 2 (R33), we will evaluate the CDSS usability, cognitive workload,
acceptability, and effectiveness for activity guideline adoption in a simulated EHR environment
(R33 Aim 3) and on two ICU units in one tertiary care hospital (R33 Aim 4). The results are
expected to have an important positive impact by providing strong justification for a subsequent
multi-site pragmatic R01-level clinical trial to scale the concurrent use of patient data with
guideline recommendations at the point of care to deliver evidence-based interventions to
reduce hospital-acquired functional decline at its negative, costly outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10867795
- **Project number:** 1R21HS029959-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Karen Dunn Lopez
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $137,434
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-01 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10867795

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10867795, Improving Identification and Coordination of Mobility Interventions in the ICU Using Clinical Decision Support (1R21HS029959-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10867795. Licensed CC0.

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