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

Summary

The goal of this observational feasibility study is to learn if patients can safely, acceptably, and effectively collect their own wound swabs at home to detect clinically significant organisms in adults aged 18 and over who have had cardiac surgery via median sternotomy (central chest wound). Participants will be recruited from two sites: Harefield Hospital (Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London) and the Royal Sussex County Hospital (University Hospitals Sussex, Brighton).

The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Can home-based patient self-swabbing of surgical wounds provide swabs of sufficient quality for microbiological testing?
* Is self-swabbing at home safe and acceptable to patients following cardiac surgery?
* Could this approach be a cost-effective way to monitor for surgical wound infections?

Participants will:

* Receive a co-designed self-swabbing instruction pack, created in collaboration with a patient and public working group and clinical experts.
* Be observed via Microsoft Teams by a research practitioner while self-swabbing (or having their carer do so) to assess usability and adherence to instructions.
* Participate in a brief interview to share their experiences and feedback on the instructions and swabbing process.
* Send completed swabs to the hospital laboratory for analysis to determine the usability and timeliness of the samples.

Conditions

• Cardiac Surgery
• Infection, Soft Tissue
• Wound Healing
• Swabs
• Self Management

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Self-swabbing of surgical wound

Participants will perform self-swabbing of their surgical wound under observation by a research practitioner via secure video call.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nottingham

  collaborator OTHER

• Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• Health Innovation East Midlands

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Centre for Healthcare Equipment and Technology Adoption

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sunil Bhudia · Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTFT)

• Ishtiaq Ahmed · University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-01-06

Primary Completion

2026-02-28

Completion

2026-02-28

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations