Effect of a multimodal prevention strategy on dialysis-associated infection events in outpatients receiving haemodialysis: The DIPS stepped wedge, cluster-randomized trial.

Objectives: Patients with haemodialysis catheters are susceptible to dialysis-associated infections, particularly bloodstream infections. There have been few systematic attempts to reduce this burden. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of a multimodal prevention strategy on dialysis-associated infection events (DAIE) among haemodialysis outpatients.

Methods: A multicentre, stepped wedge, cluster-randomized controlled trial was done from October 2019 to September 2021. Outpatient dialysis facilities entered into the intervention phase in three randomly assigned clusters, at three predefined time points. The multimodal prevention strategy consisted of infection surveillance and hand hygiene (HH) compliance observation with active feedback and teaching aseptic procedures, and a patient flyer. The primary outcome was incidence rates of different DAIE, such as bloodstream infections, intravenous antimicrobial starts, and local access-site infections per 1000 dialysis. As secondary outcome, we analysed the HH compliance change.

Results: A total of 43 haemodialysis outpatient facilities with 11 251 patients and 1 413 457 proceeded haemodialysis were included in the DIPS-trial. Incidence rates were 0.71 DAIE per 1000 dialysis (95% CI, 0.65-0.78) in the control and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.27-0.36) in the intervention group. The univariable analysis yielded an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 0.44 (95% CI, 0.33-0.59) for DAIE. Especially in patients with a central venous catheter, we saw a significant decrease in DAIE in the intervention group (IRR 0.4; 95% CI, 0.28-0.58). The HH observation combined with feedback and intensified training, resulted in an increase of HH compliance from 58-65%.

Discussion: A multimodal prevention strategy showed a significant preventive effect on DAIE among haemodialysis outpatients. This reduction also applied to bloodstream infections, especially in patients with a central venous catheter.