A Feasibility Study to Explore the Safety, Acceptability and Potential Cost Effectiveness of Self-swabbing at Home to Obtain Usable Surgical Wound Culture Swabs

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are evaluating if adults aged 18 and over who have undergone cardiac surgery via a central chest wound (median sternotomy) can safely and effectively collect their own wound swabs at home. The study aims to determine if patient self-swabbing provides samples of adequate quality for microbiological testing, is acceptable and safe, and could be a cost-effective method to monitor surgical wound infections. This feasibility study involves participants from two hospital sites in the UK. Participants will receive specially designed instruction packs to guide them through the self-swabbing process. They will perform self-swabbing of their surgical wounds while being observed remotely via a secure video call by a research practitioner. After swabbing, participants will complete brief interviews to share their experiences and provide feedback on the instructions and swabbing kit. The collected swabs will be sent to hospital laboratories for analysis to assess the quality and timeliness of the samples. Participants will be monitored for successful completion of self-swabbing, adherence to the protocol, and any adverse events during the swabbing process over months 7 to 11 of the study. Researchers will also evaluate participant ratings on the acceptability of the swabbing process, instructions, and kit. Recruitment, retention, demographic distribution, and transport times for samples will be tracked. The total participation duration varies, with assessments primarily focusing on the months 7 to 11 period.

Exploring if Patients Can Safely and Easily Swab Their Own Surgical Wounds at Home