Clinical trial NCT03119389: Direct Gloving Strategy: A Cluster-randomized Trial
Official title: Efficacy of a Direct Gloving Strategy to Improve Compliance With Infection Prevention Practices: A Cluster-randomized Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hand Hygiene
Keywords: Hand Hygiene
Non-sterile glove use
Lead sponsor: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
First posted: 2017-04-18
Enrollment: 14418
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The necessity of Hand hygiene (HH) before donning non-sterile gloves is unknown. Furthermore, because of the additional time required to cleanse hands and then don gloves, as well as the cumbersome nature of applying gloves to recently washed hands, this practice leads to non-compliance with both HH and glove use - placing patients at risk. In a pilot study, the investigators performed a randomized trial of 230 healthcare workers and demonstrated no difference in total bacterial colony counts or identification of pathogenic bacteria from the gloves of persons who either performed HH or did not perform HH prior to putting on non-sterile gloves. If unnecessary, HH before non-sterile glove use wastes valuable time, which might otherwise be spent engaged in direct patient care. And removing this unnecessary step may lead to increased compliance with infection prevention measures. In Aim A, the investigators will perform a multi-center randomized control trial to evaluate the efficacy of a direct gloving strategy to improve compliance with infection prevention practices. In Aim B, the investigators will perform a nested multi-center validation study, where the gloved hands of healthcare workers will be randomly sampled to determine bacterial contamination of non-sterile gloves after donning.

Detailed description: This study seeks to investigate alternative strategies to hand hygiene (HH) and glove use in situations where glove use is required to perform health care activities in an effort to increase compliance with infection prevention efforts.

HH is the cornerstone of infection prevention. Despite the importance of and increased focus on HH, compliance remains low in healthcare settings (40% on average in a large meta-analysis). Insufficient time, high workload and under staffing are important barriers. Glove use, which is common and increasing, is another major barrier. New strategies are needed that improve time and efficiency particularly in settings where glove use is required (e.g. Contact Precautions). One area for further study is the requirement for HH prior to non-sterile glove use. This is a recommended practice with poor compliance that may be unnecessary. Furthermore, it may lead to reduced compliance with other recommended infection prevention practices, such as glove use. In this proposal the investigators identify a novel strategy of directly gloving without performing HH prior to non-sterile glove use as a potential solution.

In this study the investigators aim to perform a multicenter, cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of direct gloving to improve compliance with infection prevention practices (i.e. HH and glove use). Herein, the investigators will evaluate the safety and efficacy of directly gloving (compared to performing HH prior to glove use) and assess whether this strategy will lead to increased compliance with both HH and glove use. The investigators previously demonstrated the safety of this strategy in a single-center randomized controlled pilot trial where the investigators found no difference in bacterial contamination of gloves of healthcare providers who either performed or did not perform HH prior to donning non-sterile gloves. Thus, with potentially no added benefit and in a setting where the investigators know that HH compliance is the lowest (i.e. prior to glove use), mandating HH prior to donning gloves as recommended in current guidelines could actually reduce both HH and glove compliance, placing patients at increased risk for developing infection.

Eligibility criteria: For Aim B

Inclusion Criteria:

* Health professional at one of the study sites
* Has direct interaction with patients at study sites (healthcare worker)

Exclusion Criteria:

* \<18 years old

Primary outcomes:
measure: Number of Participants With Composite Compliance With Expected Infection Prevention Practices Upon Entry to Contact Precaution-patient Rooms
timeFrame: 1 year
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Proportion of Healthcare Worker Who Use Glove on Entry Into Contact Precaution Rooms
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Proportion of Healthcare Workers Who Perform Hand Hygiene on Entry Into Non-contact Precaution Room
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Proportion of Healthcare Worker Who Perform Hand Hygiene on Exit From Any Room
timeFrame: 1 year
Other outcomes:
measure: Mean Total Bacterial Colony Count
timeFrame: 1 year
Locations:
city: Iowa City
country: United States
facility: University of Iowa Hospitals
state: Iowa
city: Baltimore
country: United States
facility: University of Maryland Medical Center
state: Maryland
city: Baltimore
country: United States
facility: Johns Hopkins Hospital
state: Maryland
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park
name: Kerri Thom, MD, MS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: