Intervention Zambia Rural L&D Infection Study

November 11, 2019 updated by: Boston University

Prevention of Neonatal and Maternal Infection During Labor and Delivery in Rural Healthcare Sites in Zambia - Intervention Phase

This is the intervention phase of a study to investigate the impact of low-cost bundled interventions on improving the infection control practices in the labor and delivery units in rural healthcare settings in Zambia. A baseline observational phase of the health care providers' infection control procedures was done. In this intervention phase, low-cost bundle of interventions, including health care provider education, behavior feedback, visual and Short Message Service (SMS)/text message reminders, and provision of alcoholic hand rubs, will be implemented at 5 study sites. 12 weeks after the initiation of interventions, endline data will be collected. The data from endline after interventions will be compared with baseline data from observational phase to detect changes in infection control practices at each study site after the interventions.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The total duration of the intervention phase is estimated to be 4 months. During this time, the investigators will collaborate with the healthcare workers (HCWs) at each study site and the district pharmacist.

The study team will visit each site separately and administer the training modules on-site during the first month of the research until all of the modules have been completed for all of the Labor and Delivery (L&D) staff, which usually consist of about 2-3 people. A quiz will be administered before and after the training session to assess change in knowledge after the training.

SMS reminders will be sent every weekday to promote best infection control practices in the L&D. Posters will also be posted for visual reminders of best practices around the health center.

After the initial training, each health centers will be visited twice a month by a study team member to assess alcohol rubs (AHR) stock, gather feedback and comments, and evaluate postpartum maternal and neonatal infectious complications and hospital outcomes. Infection and outcome data will be shared with each site monthly. About 2 months after initial training, a refresher education and training course will be held at each study site. A quiz will be administered before and after the refresher course to assess knowledge.

The investigators will collaborate with the district pharmacy for production and distribution of AHR. The pharmacists will receive training on how to combine and mix the hand rub components per WHO guidelines, and test batches will be made prior to distribution to study sites to ensure familiarity of the pharmacy staff with its production. Quality control with an alcoholmeter will be performed with the alcohol ingredient and with the finished product, as per World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation. Afterwards, the head pharmacist will be consulted biweekly by study team member to document AHR production, budget, distribution, and any other issues.

Endline data collection will occur 12 weeks after initiation of intervention implementation. During data collection period, a study team member will meet with a L&D floor administrator in a private setting at a time convenient to the administrator to go through the questionnaire portion of the ICAT together.

Eligible pregnant women will primarily be recruited and consented outside the facility in the waiting area where they congregate prior to admission for delivery. Women who are consented will be given a "consent card" in addition to a copy of the consent form. This card will state that they have previously consented to the study, and can then be presented once they are admitted for delivery. A member of the research team will accompany the primary care provider during their provision of care and patient contact during first, second, and third stages of labor to observe, assess and document infection control behaviors and practices by the providers, using the ICAT.

A retrospective review of the logbook will be done to assess for rates of postpartum maternal and neonatal infectious complication and outcomes for participants.

During the endline data collection, an anonymous, self-administered survey will be administered to the study site HCWs to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the study site HCWs towards the implemented study interventions.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

37

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Southern Province
      • Choma, Southern Province, Zambia
        • Mangunza Rural Health Facility
      • Choma, Southern Province, Zambia
        • Masuku Mission Rural Health Facility
      • Choma, Southern Province, Zambia
        • Mbabala Rural Health Facility
      • Choma, Southern Province, Zambia
        • Mochipapa Rural Health Facility
      • Choma, Southern Province, Zambia
        • Simakutu Rural Health Facility

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria for observation:

  • Women of age > 15 in early first stage of labor (cervical dilation ≤ 6cm) at the study sites during the study period
  • If woman is 15 to 17 must have a guardian present
  • Planned vaginal delivery
  • Any healthcare workers providing direct patient care to women delivering at the study sites during study period

Exclusion Criteria for observation:

  • Any eligible woman who presents past the early first stage of labor (cervical dilation > 6cm)
  • Woman under 18 years old without a guardian present

Inclusion criteria for logbook review:

  • Women who delivered their baby at the study sites during the study period
  • Newborns who were born at the study sites during the study period

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Preventing L&D Infections
Low-cost bundled L&D infection prevention interventions will be implemented, including education, visual reminders, feedback, and alcoholic hand rub supply. Infection control practices and child delivery outcomes will be assessed after implementation of these interventions.

The following bundle of infection prevention interventions will be implemented at each study site for 12 weeks:

Education: 2 day module of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) training and education at the beginning of the period, with specific information pertaining to labor and delivery. A refresher course will be administered at week 6.

Feedback: Monthly feedback sessions detailing IPC practices

Reminders: Visual poster reminders on hand hygiene and daily SMS reminders on best practices for peripartum and postnatal care.

Alcohol Hand Rub (AHR) supply: Provision of AHR, produced by WHO standards and guides in collaboration with district pharmacy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Infection control practices assessed by Infection Control Assessment Tool (ICAT) score
Time Frame: 12 weeks
A survey including 98 questions detailing infection control practices in the L&D. It includes questions on facility, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) program, general IPC, hand hygiene, L&D practices, and postpartum care practices. The scores from each question on the survey will be summed for the ICAT score for each health center. Maximum score is 140 points and minimum score is 0 points, with higher score indicating better infection control practices. Of the 98 questions, 34 questions are duplicated in an observation tool in order to corroborate the accuracy of survey information by direct observation. The observation tool includes topics on supplies in the L&D and healthcare worker behaviors during childbirth. ICAT was developed by the Rational Pharmaceutical Management plus Infection Control Project team in 2009.
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of mothers with postpartum maternal infection from medical records
Time Frame: 12 weeks
A mother will be counted as having postpartum maternal infection if women they have one or more of the following:sepsis, endometritis (puerperal infection), mastitis, urinary tract infection (UTI), cellulitis, and other unspecified infections documented in the medical records (ie logbook review of maternal admission, delivery, and postnatal registries).
12 weeks
Number of newborns with postpartum neonatal infection from medical records
Time Frame: 12 weeks
A newborn will be counted as having postpartum neonatal infection if they have one or more of the following:sepsis, pneumonia, meningitis, UTI, omphalitis, and others unspecified infections documented in the medical records (ie logbook review of maternal admission, delivery, and postnatal registries).
12 weeks
Rates of maternal hospital outcome categories from medical records
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Categories for maternal hospital outcomes include: 1) full recovery, 2) delayed discharge, 3)transfer, 4) death, and 5) no information. Information collected from logbook review of maternal admission, delivery, and postnatal registries will be assessed and the counts in each category will be divided by the total number of mothers.
12 weeks
Rates of neonatal hospital outcomes from medical records
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Categories for neonatal hospital outcomes include: 1) full recovery, 2) delayed discharge, 3)transfer, 4) death, and 5) no information. Information collected from logbook review of maternal admission, delivery, and postnatal registries will be assessed and the counts in each category will be divided by the total number of newborns.
12 weeks
HCW attitudes towards infection control interventions from an anonymous survey
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Summed scores from an anonymous survey designed by the investigators will be used to assess HCW (healthcare workers') attitudes towards each aspects of the interventions and the program as a whole. The survey has 28 Likert scale questions (responses range from 1 to 5 and the summed score from 28 to 140). Higher scores indicate more positive HCW attitudes toward the interventions.The survey also includes a section for any open-ended comments for each of the interventions.
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Study Director: Davison Hamer, MD, Boston University School of Public Health, Center for Global Health

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 11, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 16, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

September 16, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 14, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 17, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

January 18, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 13, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 11, 2019

Last Verified

November 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H-38261

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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