RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Novel application of a discrete choice experiment to identify preferences for a national healthcare-associated infection surveillance programme: a cross-sectional study
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e011397
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011397
VO 6
IS 5
A1 Philip L Russo
A1 Gang Chen
A1 Allen C Cheng
A1 Michael Richards
A1 Nicholas Graves
A1 Julie Ratcliffe
A1 Lisa Hall
YR 2016
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/5/e011397.abstract
AB Objective To identify key stakeholder preferences and priorities when considering a national healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance programme through the use of a discrete choice experiment (DCE).Setting Australia does not have a national HAI surveillance programme. An online web-based DCE was developed and made available to participants in Australia.Participants A sample of 184 purposively selected healthcare workers based on their senior leadership role in infection prevention in Australia.Primary and secondary outcomes A DCE requiring respondents to select 1 HAI surveillance programme over another based on 5 different characteristics (or attributes) in repeated hypothetical scenarios. Data were analysed using a mixed logit model to evaluate preferences and identify the relative importance of each attribute.Results A total of 122 participants completed the survey (response rate 66%) over a 5-week period. Excluding 22 who mismatched a duplicate choice scenario, analysis was conducted on 100 responses. The key findings included: 72% of stakeholders exhibited a preference for a surveillance programme with continuous mandatory core components (mean coefficient 0.640 (p<0.01)), 65% for a standard surveillance protocol where patient-level data are collected on infected and non-infected patients (mean coefficient 0.641 (p<0.01)), and 92% for hospital-level data that are publicly reported on a website and not associated with financial penalties (mean coefficient 1.663 (p<0.01)).Conclusions The use of the DCE has provided a unique insight to key stakeholder priorities when considering a national HAI surveillance programme. The application of a DCE offers a meaningful method to explore and quantify preferences in this setting.