Consensus demonstrates four indicators needed to standardize burn wound infection reporting across trials in a single-country study (ICon-B study).

J Hosp Infect

Children's Burns Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK; Bristol Centre for Surgical Research, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, UK. Electronic address:

Published: October 2020

Introduction: Evidence-based interventions are needed to treat burn wound infection (BWI). Evidence syntheses have been limited by heterogeneity of indicators used to report BWI across trials. Consistent reporting of BWI would be facilitated by an agreed minimum set of indicators. The Infection Consensus in Burns study aimed to achieve expert consensus about a core indicator set (CIS) for BWI.

Methods: The CIS was established through development of a long list of BWI indicators identified from a systematic review and expert input. In a Delphi survey, UK expert participants rated the indicators according to use in everyday practice, importance for diagnosis and frequency of observation in patients with BWI. Indicators were included in the CIS if ≥75% of participants agreed it was important for diagnosis and used in everyday practice, and ≥50% of participants rated it as frequently observed in patients with BWI.

Results: One hundred and ninety-five indicators were identified from the systematic review and reduced to 29 survey items through merging of items with the same meaning. Seventy-five UK experts participated in the Delphi survey. Following a single survey round and a consensus meeting with an expert panel, four items were included in the CIS: pyrexia, spreading erythema, change in white cell count, and presence of pathogenic microbes.

Discussion And Conclusions: To facilitate evidence synthesis, a single-country systematic, expert-informed approach was taken to develop a CIS to be reported consistently across trials reporting BWI as an outcome. Future work requires verification of the CIS with international experts.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.07.022DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

burn wound
8
wound infection
8
reporting bwi
8
bwi indicators
8
indicators identified
8
identified systematic
8
systematic review
8
delphi survey
8
participants rated
8
everyday practice
8

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!