| Description |
Infections associated with Central Line Dressing Changes (CLDC) represent a significant cost in healthcare and human life, with approximately 250,000 cases a year and costs of up to $29,000 per single episode (OʼGrady et al., 2002; Shannon et al., 2006). The introduction of a kit designed in accordance with adherence engineering (AE) to direct behaviors during a CLDC could result in improved patient safety, increased efficiency, and lower costs of healthcare delivery (Drews, 2013). This kit could also be more effectively utilized by novice users in a home healthcare setting. The present study examined 39 novice participants performing a CLDC, 19 with the AE kit and 20 with a traditional "jumble kit," under the hypothesis that the AE participants would complete more steps of the CLDC correctly, and do so significantly faster than the jumble kit participants. The study also aimed to investigate the relationships between time spent on the education portion and CLDC performance, and use of training materials and performance. While the AE participants did complete the procedure significantly faster, there was no difference found in performance between the two groups, nor was there any correlation found between use of training materials and performance. A moderate (though significant) correlation was found for time spent on education and performance outcome. These results indicate that more research is needed to determine how best to adapt the AE kit for novice users; suggestions for future experiments are discussed. |
