Alcohol Hand Gel Use in Mbale Regional Referral Hospital: a Cost Effectiveness Evaluation (WardGel)

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.