Development of an attention test using the VitalSky
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Abstract
Delirium occurs in upto 80% of the ICU patients and is one of the most common source of morbidity and mortality in the ICU. Inattention is one of the core features of delirium and affects 97% - 100% of the delirium patients. This indicates that attention can be a good parameter for detecting delirium. In literature, it has been found that the use of visual attention tests have been successful in detecting delirium among the ICU patients. The VitalSky is a luminous ceiling used for providing light therapy to the ICU patients. Since, the VitalSky is already available in the ICU and allows to render visual contents, it can be used for detecting delirium in the ICU patients by performing visual attention tests. In this thesis, visual attention tests are developed for the VitalSky. Moreover, different interaction devices are explored that can be used by the ICU patients to respond to the tasks of the attention test and help in automation of the test. The technical feasibility and usability of the automated setup is also evaluated in this thesis. The validation of the performance of the attention tests and user preference of the response devices is assessed by conducting a pilot study on 10 healthy volunteers and collecting their subjective feedback.