Exploring if Patients Can Safely and Easily Swab Their Own Surgical Wounds at Home
NCT ID: NCT07200401
Last Updated: 2026-01-09
Study Results
The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.
Basic Information
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RECRUITING
NA
40 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2026-01-06
2026-02-28
Brief Summary
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The main questions it aims to answer are:
* Can home-based patient self-swabbing of surgical wounds provide swabs of sufficient quality for microbiological testing?
* Is self-swabbing at home safe and acceptable to patients following cardiac surgery?
* Could this approach be a cost-effective way to monitor for surgical wound infections?
Participants will:
* Receive a co-designed self-swabbing instruction pack, created in collaboration with a patient and public working group and clinical experts.
* Be observed via Microsoft Teams by a research practitioner while self-swabbing (or having their carer do so) to assess usability and adherence to instructions.
* Participate in a brief interview to share their experiences and feedback on the instructions and swabbing process.
* Send completed swabs to the hospital laboratory for analysis to determine the usability and timeliness of the samples.
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Detailed Description
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Conditions
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Study Design
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NA
SINGLE_GROUP
PREVENTION
NONE
Study Groups
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Self-Swabbing Group
≥18 years old with median sternotomies (central wounds) after cardiac surgery will be drawn from two hospital sites
Self-swabbing of surgical wound
Participants will perform self-swabbing of their surgical wound under observation by a research practitioner via secure video call.
Interventions
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Self-swabbing of surgical wound
Participants will perform self-swabbing of their surgical wound under observation by a research practitioner via secure video call.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* Cardiac surgery ≥18 years old patients with a central chest wound, where the wound is a closed wound - assessed by the research nurse
* Patients having elective or urgent surgery
* Patients who have been discharged home or to a care home
* Willing and able to provide written informed consent prior to participation in the clinical investigation.
* Willing and able to comply with all study related procedures, with or without digital resource/internet access.
Exclusion Criteria
* Cardiac surgery patients with open wounds extending beyond skin level, or where deep tissue, organs or implants are visible, wounds with constant or heavy discharge of fluid, wounds leaking pus at the time of the video consultation.
* Patients having emergency or salvage surgery
* Patients still in hospital
* Patients with a dressing covering their wound at the time of the video consultation.
* Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, bone marrow disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions requiring immunosuppressive treatment, any immunosuppressive medication at the time of consent or within the last 4 weeks before consent.
* Undergoing active cancer treatment at time of consent/ or planning to start cancer treatment within the study period or completed cancer treatment within the last 4 weeks of the study commencing.
* Patients who lack capacity to consent
18 Years
ALL
No
Sponsors
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University of Nottingham
OTHER
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
OTHER
Health Innovation East Midlands
UNKNOWN
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS
OTHER_GOV
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation
UNKNOWN
Centre for Healthcare Equipment and Technology Adoption
UNKNOWN
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Principal Investigators
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Sunil Bhudia
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTFT)
Ishtiaq Ahmed
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Locations
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Royal Sussex County Hospital
Brighton, , United Kingdom
Harefield Hospital
Harefield, , United Kingdom
Countries
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Central Contacts
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Facility Contacts
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References
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Census - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) Accessed 07/07/2024
Tanner J, Brierley Jones L, Westwood N, Rochon M, Wloch C, Rogers LJ, Vaja R, Dearling J, Wilson K, Harrington P, Brown CS, Murphy G. Exploratory study of patients' and carers' preferences for postdischarge surgical wound monitoring using survey and interviews. BMJ Open. 2025 Jan 25;15(1):e087320. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-087320.
M. Rochon (2023) Surgical Site Infection surveillance: Time for a new agenda? Society of Tissue Viability: Advances in surgical wound management and reducing surgical site infection.(SSI) https://societyoftissueviability.org/whats-on/advances-in-surgical-wound-management-and-reducingsurgical-site-infection-ssi/
Atchison C, Pristera P, Cooper E, Papageorgiou V, Redd R, Piggin M, Flower B, Fontana G, Satkunarajah S, Ashrafian H, Lawrence-Jones A, Naar L, Chigwende J, Gibbard S, Riley S, Darzi A, Elliott P, Ashby D, Barclay W, Cooke GS, Ward H. Usability and Acceptability of Home-based Self-testing for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Antibodies for Population Surveillance. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 May 4;72(9):e384-e393. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1178.
Rochon M, Jawarchan A, Ingusan S, Cariaga K and Morais C. 'Project ID007672: Clinical audit of patient-reported antibiotics for wound problems following surgery and review of alternative strategies'. 25/02/2023. Unpublished.
NHS England. Delivering a net zero National Health Service. Greener NHS " Delivering a 'Net Zero' National Health Service (england.nhs.uk) Accessed 27/02/2024
NHS England. The NHS Long Term Plan. NHS England " The NHS Long Term Plan. Accessed 27/02/2024
Royal College of General Practitioners. RCGP response to the Antimicrobial resistance national action plan: Call for evidence. Accessed 29/02/2024
Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2022 Feb 12;399(10325):629-655. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0. Epub 2022 Jan 19.
GIRFT 2019 GIRFT National Survey April 2019 Layout 1 (gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk)
Tanner J, Padley W, Davey S, Murphy K, Brown B. Patient narratives of surgical site infection: implications for practice. J Hosp Infect. 2013 Jan;83(1):41-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2012.07.025. Epub 2012 Oct 22.
Cardiothoracic Interdisciplinary Research Network. Electronic address: [email protected]; National Cardiac Benchmarking Collaborative; Public Health England; Cardiothoracic Interdisciplinary Research Network. National survey of variations in practice in the prevention of surgical site infections in adult cardiac surgery, United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. J Hosp Infect. 2020 Dec;106(4):812-819. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2020.09.016. Epub 2020 Sep 19.
UKHSA Surveillance of surgical site infections in NHS hospitals in England: April 2022 to March 2023. London UKHSA 2023
Rochon M, Cariaga K, Sa F, et al. 2023 The unrecognised burden of post-discharge antibiotic consumption for surgical wounds. Abstract. The 37TH EACTS Annual Meeting 4- 7 October 2023, Vienna, Austria. Programme (y-congress.com)
Research reveals levels of inappropriate prescriptions in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Woelber E, Schrick EJ, Gessner BD, Evans HL. Proportion of Surgical Site Infections Occurring after Hospital Discharge: A Systematic Review. Surg Infect (Larchmt). 2016 Oct;17(5):510-9. doi: 10.1089/sur.2015.241. Epub 2016 Jul 27.
Wounds UK Prevention 2023 Identification and Management of Surgical Wound Dehiscence (SWD) SN23_CD_SWD_WUK-web.pdf (wounds-uk.com) Accessed 08/07/2024
Han SM, Greenfield G, Majeed A, Hayhoe B. Impact of Remote Consultations on Antibiotic Prescribing in Primary Health Care: Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Nov 9;22(11):e23482. doi: 10.2196/23482.
Other Identifiers
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IRAS 356847
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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