30 Dec Post Discharge Phone Call Improves Infection Detection Rate

Dr. Halwani

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Muhammad A. Halwani, MSc, PhD
Faculty of Medicine, Al Baha University
Al Baha, Saudi Arabia. 

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The study idea was based on examining the current rate of post cesarean section infections that were detected in the hospital at the time. It was hypothesized that the detected infections were actually less than the real number identified. Therefore, we challenged the traditional surveillance method that was applied in the hospital with a new enhanced methodology which is telephone follow-ups for patients who under go C-section operations.

Our main finding proved that this new applied method was able to detect more cases than the traditional one. Using phone calls as a gold standard, the sensitivity of the standard methodology to capture SSI after cesarean increased to 73.3% with the new methodology identifying an extra five cases. These patients represented 26.3% (5 of 19) of all the patients who developed SSI. In other words, for every 100 C-section procedures there were 2.6% missed cases which the new method was able to detect. The duration of the calls ranged from 1 to 5 minutes and were well received by the patients.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: Our research might be more useful to infection control staff than clinicians in particular as it can be a useful tool for surveillance. Regarding patients, the study proves that the follow-up methodology is not as burdensome as some people might expect. On the contrary, almost all the study’s patient participants expressed their appreciation for this type of communication as some of them benefited greatly from the service.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Telephone follow-ups can be a useful tool in the identification of a number of types of infections during the early stages after C-section operations. Patients who might have or are suspected to have an infection can be directed to a hospital straightway. This can help very much in decreasing the unnecessary visits to hospitals by directing only those who really need medical assistance.

Citation:

Postdischarge surveillance for infection following cesarean section: A prospective cohort study comparing methodologies

Halwani, Muhammad A. et al.

American Journal of Infection Control , Volume 0 , Issue 0 ,
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2015.10.023
Published Online:December 16, 2015

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Muhammad A. Halwani, MSc, PhD (2015). Post Discharge Phone Call Improves Infection Detection Rate MedicalResearch.com

Last Updated on December 30, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD