Infections, Hospital Clinical Trial
Official title:
Effectiveness Evaluation of Alcohol Hand Gel Use in Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, Rural Eastern Uganda
Ministry of Health through the National Medical Stores has supplied alcohol-based handgels
to the different health facilities in Uganda for the health care providers to use during
clinical care. However, constant stock-outs and or limited supplies remains the main
constraint faced by the hospitals. Thus the handgels are generally used by a few of the
senior health care providers.
The promotion of bedside, antiseptic handrubs largely contributes to the increase in
compliance and sustained improvement of hand hygiene compliance reduces Health care acquired
infections (HCAIs), but it is not yet established how cost- effective the intervention is in
a a rural Ugandan hospital where funds are severely rationed and, which serves over 4
million people in over 15 districts in Uganda. An evaluation of an intervention's
cost-effectiveness is a crucial factor in whether the government will be prepared to fund
the intervention and sustain it.
This WardGel study thus aims to assess the cost-benefit of providing hand gel for all health
care workers in Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.
The WardGel Study aims to assess the cost- effectiveness of providing handgel for all health
care workers in selected wards of Mbale regional Referral Hospital in rural Eastern Uganda.
The WardGel study seeks to address the following specific objectives:-
1. To determine the incidence of new infections following hospital admission among
in-patients
2. To assess the hand hygiene compliance among the health care providers (HCPs) as the
usual practice and with handgel
3. To determine the effectiveness of handgel in reduction of new infections after hospital
admission
4. To determine the additional costs associated with development of new infections after
hospital stay
This study will compare infection rates before (pre-intervention phase) and after
implementation of the hand gel for use by health care providers (intervention phase). The
study will also assess hand-hygiene compliance amongst health workers and additional costs
associated with management of new acquired infections amongst inpatients while at the
hospital.
The pre-intervention phase lasting for 12 weeks will involve baseline evaluation of the
current hand hygiene practices on each of the study wards, ascertaining how frequently HCPs
washed their hands or used handgel.
At the end of 12 weeks, the Intervention will begin and last for 12 weeks. Alcohol-based
hand gels will be introduced and provided to health care providers (HCPs) for use before and
after each patient care episode.
In ward Training will be provided for all HCPs, including student trainees of clinical
medicine and nursing prior to introduction of the hand gels on its use and any promotion
messages for example, displaying posters in each hand washing area in the respective wards.
Any other training will be arranged and conducted accordingly. 1-Litre handgel bottles will
be fitted in the holders fixed to the walls on the wards, and other free bottles placed on
the trolleys for using while conducting ward rounds, others on the reception area during the
registration of inpatient, and treatment area while administering patients' treatment.
Also 40ml hand-sized bottles will be availed to health care providers. Additional stocks of
the hand gel will be available in the staff areas and one central pharmacy area. Compliance
with the intervention will be assessed by direct observation by the research assistants on
each ward based on the WHO assessment tools and by volume of gel use.
In both phases, the following will be crosscutting: -
- The study shall adopt the WHO hand hygiene tools (the WHO 5-Moment Tool and hand
hygiene compliance tool) to assess the hand hygiene compliance (WHO 2009).
- Prospective data will also be collected daily from all recruited inpatients on the
wards prior to and during the implementation of the intervention to document the
frequency of infections on admission and the rate of new acquired infections during
their hospital stay.
The new infections definitions acquired after admission of the patients and applied in this
WardGel study have been developed and modified from the CDC/NHSN Surveillance definitions
for specific infections [CDC 2014].
- Individual patients data collected from patient interviews will be augmented by a
review of their case files.
- Research assistants will interview all recruited patients and or their carers diagnosed
with a new infection to assess the exact extra care costs incurred from patients'
perspective. Meanwhile, hospital records shall help to establish the extra costs
incurred for antibiotics, and health workers extra time. Other costs will be related
hand gel supplies, training and start-up costs.
;
Observational Model: Cohort, Time Perspective: Prospective
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