Comparing home infusion devices for antibiotic treatment - CHID Study

Intervention arm: Patients will be administered antibiotics with an AmbIT Continuous electronic infusion pump, in the home for 4 - 7 days. This duration is variable due to the need to align with standard outpatient appointment times and will be determined by the time between discharge and appointment, or from one appointment to the next. A separate cassette with attached tubing and connector is provided for each day with a single pump used for the intervention period. The medication type, dose, rate and home care are as per normal clinical practice. Education on the use of the electronic pump will be via written information sheets provided by the pump manufacturers and verbal information from the study nurse. Education and delivery of the pump will occur prior to leaving hospital or during a clinic visit by the study nurse. A home care nurse (Royal District Nursing Service, RDNS) will visit each patient daily in their home as per normal practice and change the infusion cassette for the pump. As these nurses may not have previous experience using the AmbIT pump, all nurses who provide home care to patients on this trial will receive training via a 4 minute custom-made video, available on-line, prior to first enrolment. They will also receive a written information sheet about the trial, and a 24-hour technical support telephone number has been provided should any pump-related issues occur (e.g. alarm of the AmbIT pump). Due to the need to maintain continuous administration of antibiotics, a wash out period between devices is not part of this study. Patient intervention adherence will be checked by the study nurse at each clinic visit. Nurses will be contacted via email and phone by the study nurse to confirm training has been undertaken and remind them of the survey.