Start pilotstudy at the Radboudumc

December 6th, 2021

Today the pilotstudy starts at the Radboudumc on the IC, MC and Cardiology departments. The Micro-Cosmos ensures that patients are less bothered by external stimuli, have more privacy and a secure environment. It is being investigated whether patients sleep better and experience less anxiety, stress and delirium as a result.

Sleep is essential for recovering from illness, preventing and/or reducing confusion. Severely ill patients, in the Intensive Care Unit (IC), Medium Care Unit (MC) or Cardiac Care Unit (CCU), often do not sleep well due to the presence of many external stimuli (light, sound, alarms, presence of personnel). As a result, the living environment in these departments is very crowded. Patients indicate that this unrest and lack of privacy is a major problem. For nurses, patients who are awake at night cause an increase in workload.

With the Micro-Cosmos, we want to enable seriously ill patients to create a 'micro-environment' in which they can exclude external stimuli, such as light and sound. A special dome, the Micro-Cosmos, is developed which is placed at the head of the bed. The Micro-Cosmos aims to improve the quality of sleep and reduce confusion, anxiety and stress. The Micro-Cosmos also makes it possible for the patient to 'cocoon' and thus contribute to comfort and privacy. By positively influencing the hospital environment, the Micro-Cosmos contributes to an improvement in the quality of care for critically ill and vulnerable patients.

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