Washing Without Water: Cost-effectiveness of a Rapidly Spreading Nursing Intervention in Bedridden Patients' (WWW)

April 24, 2017 updated by: Betsie van Gaal

WASHING WITHOUT WATER Cost-effectiveness of a Rapidly Spreading Nursing Intervention om Bedridden Patients'

The purpose of this study is to compare the traditional bed bath with 'washing without water' on

  • 1) effects on skin integrity
  • 2) patient and nurse satisfaction and 3) costs. In a cluster randomized trial we will randomize 50 nursing home wards (576 patients) to 'washing without water' or traditional bed baths. Bathing regimens are continued for six weeks.

Whereas effects on skin damage are not likely to be specific for setting, these results can be generalized to other patient groups.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

RAPID IMPLEMENTATION of new interventions while cost-effectiveness and acceptability for patients and care providers are unclear, is never desirable. 'Washing without water' is such an intervention.

The traditional bed bath is executed by using tap water, towels, washcloths and soap. As an alternative, 'WASHING WITHOUT WATER' was recently introduced in the Netherlands. This concept consists of disposable washcloths made of a mix of soft synthetic fibers, saturated with a no rinse, quickly vaporizing skin cleaning and caring lotion. 'WASHING WITHOUT WATER' can be used with all patients who need bathing assistance, especially when taking a shower or sitting in a hot tub is not possible.

However, while several claims are made about the positive effects of 'washing without water' as compared to traditional bathing, EVIDENCE IS LACKING. Also, 'washing without water' is CONTROVERSIAL. While some are eager to adopt the new concept, others see it as 'efficiency gone loose' and denying patients one of the most basic elements of care: a proper bath. This study therefore addresses the cost effectiveness of 'washing without water' in bedridden patients.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

500

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

  • Netherlands
    • Gelderland
      • Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands, 6500 HB
        • Radboud university medical center

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

45 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • long stay psychogeriatric nursing home residents
  • long stay somatic nursing home residents
  • 100 randomly selected nurses from the participating nursing home wards

Exclusion Criteria:

-

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: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Washing without water
The experimental intervention is 'washing without water' and consists of disposable washing cloths made of a mix of soft synthetic fibers, saturated with a no rinse, quickly vaporizing skin cleaning and caring lotion.
Device: Washing without water
The experimental intervention is 'washing without water' and consists of disposable washing cloths made of a mix of soft synthetic fibers, saturated with a no rinse, quickly vaporizing skin cleaning and caring lotion.
Other Names:
  • bag baths
  • disposable washing cloths
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Traditional soap and water bath
The control intervention is the traditional bathing assistance as performed in care dependent patients by using tap water, a bowl, towels, washcloths and soap.
Device: Washing without water
The experimental intervention is 'washing without water' and consists of disposable washing cloths made of a mix of soft synthetic fibers, saturated with a no rinse, quickly vaporizing skin cleaning and caring lotion.
Other Names:
  • bag baths
  • disposable washing cloths

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
the primary outcome is prevalence of care associated skin damage
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Skin damage is defined as intertrigo, dermatitis and/or other erythema on skin areas which were not exposed to pressure directly before observation.
6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient and nurse satisfaction with bathing technique
Time Frame: 6 weeks
  • patient perceived discomfort during bathing
  • nurse perceived work load
  • observed bathing quality
6 weeks
Cost bathing
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Bathing and skin damage associated costs will be calculated from the costs of bathing and skin care associated staff time and the materials used.
6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Betsie van Gaal

Collaborators

ZonMw: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Theo van Achterberg, PhD, Radboud university medical center; IQ healthcare

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

April 1, 2011

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

November 1, 2012

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

November 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 23, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 23, 2010

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

August 24, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

April 25, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 24, 2017

Last Verified

April 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 80-82310-97-1074

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

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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