July 6, 2023: NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory Welcomes 2 New NIH Collaboratory Trials: BEST-ICU and TAICHIKNEE

Posted on by Lauren Stewart

Best-ICU Principal Investigators
From left: Dr. Michele Balas and Dr. Eduard Vasilevskis

The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory is excited to add 2 new NIH Collaboratory Trials to its portfolio of innovative pragmatic clinical trials embedded in healthcare systems. BEST-ICU (or Behavioral Economic and Staffing Strategies to Increase Adoption of the ABCDEF Bundle in the ICU) is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). TAICHIKNEE (or Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: An Embedded Pragmatic Trial) is supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).

BEST-ICU will explore the prevention of health impairments exacerbated by health disparities in the intensive care unit (ICU) through the application of the ABCDEF bundle, a multicomponent, evidence-based intervention to improve team-based care. The overall objective is to evaluate 2 strategies grounded in behavioral economic theory and implementation science to increase ABCDEF bundle adoption and, in turn, address known health disparities in the ICU.

Drs. Michele Balas and Eduard Vasileviskis will serve as BEST-ICU's co–principal investigators. Dr. Balas is the associate dean of research and the Dorothy Hodges Olson Distinguished Professor of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing. Dr. Vasilevskis is a clinician-educator hospitalist and an associate professor of medicine in the Section of Hospital Medicine and the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Headshots of Dr. Chenchen Wang, Dr. Helen Lavretsky, Dr. Eric Roseen, and Dr. Robert Saper
From left: Dr. Chenchen Wang, Dr. Helen Lavretsky, Dr. Eric Roseen, and Dr. Robert Saper

TAICHIKNEE will compare the effects of web-based tai chi interventions versus routine care for individuals experiencing knee pain due to osteoarthritis. The practice of tai chi integrates physical, psychosocial, and behavioral components and has exhibited clinically significant improvements in chronic knee osteoarthritis pain conditions. The results of the study will enable widespread adoption of mind-body approaches for knee osteoarthritis, which affects more than 32.5 million individuals in the United States, across healthcare systems.

TAICHIKNEE has 4 co–principal investigators. Dr. Chenchen Wang is a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and the director of the Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Eric Roseen is an assistant professor of family medicine at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and a chiropractic physician at Joint Ventures Physical Therapy and Fitness. Dr. Robert Saper is the director of integrative medicine for the Boston Medical Center Department of Family Medicine and a professor in the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Helen Lavretsky is a professor-in-residence in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and a geriatric integrative psychiatrist.

These 2 new NIH Collaboratory Trials supported within the NIH Collaboratory will extend the program's mission to strengthen the national capacity to implement cost-effective, large-scale research studies that engage healthcare delivery organizations as research partners. To date, the NIH Collaboratory has supported 25 NIH Collaboratory Trials covering a range of clinical areas and spanning 12 NIH Institutes and Centers.