The use of predefined scales and scores with eye-tracking devices for symptom identification in critically ill nonverbal patients.

Background: Eye tracking (ET) may be a novel tool to enable nonverbal communication. We hypothesized that ET could be used successfully by intensive care unit (ICU) patients with artificial airways to express their levels of pain and mood, quality of life, and self-esteem with predefined scales and scores.

Methods: Prospective, monocentric, observational study, including patients with an endotracheal tube or tracheostomy tube and a history of mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours without delirium, and inadequate nonverbal communication skills. The ICU patients' pain was assessed with a numeric rating scale, their mood was tested with a smiley analog scale. Quality of life and self-esteem were measured with the European quality of life-5 dimensions-5 levels-score and the visual analog self-esteem scale.

Results: A total of 75 patients with a mean age of 58.3 years were included. Main diagnoses for ICU admission were major trauma (45.3%), nonabdominal sepsis (22.6%), and acute abdomen (13.3%). Patients showed moderate levels of pain and sadness with a median of 4 (interquartile range, 3-5.5) on the numeric rating scale and a median of 4 (interquartile range, 3-4) on the smiley analog scale. The general health status on the European quality of life-5 dimensions-5 levels-score was rated as poor. Reporting on the visual analog self-esteem scale, most of the included patients felt trapped (90.7%) and not confident (72%), were frustrated (64%) or did not feel understood (56%). However, despite their severe illness, many patients classified themselves as intelligent (30.6%), not mixed up (38.6%), outgoing (38.6%), and optimistic (44%).

Conclusion: Eye tracking enables symptom identification in critically ill voiceless patients with impaired communication options. The results of our study may provide guidance for improvement measures in the care of voiceless ICU patients. We believe that ET is useful for symptom identification and therefore may be capable of improving patient-medical team interaction and patient satisfaction.

Level Of Evidence: Diagnostic Test or Criteria, Level III.