National awards for Inst of Skin Integrity & Infection Prevention
Pictured receiving their award are (centre and left and right) the University's Professor Karen Ousey and Dr John Stephenson
Wed, 29 Mar 2017 16:17:00 BST
Professor Karen Ousey and Dr John Stephenson take top honours for the Best Clinical Research Award
UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield wound-care experts have conducted research into Surgical Site Infections (SSI) and how they reduce the survival rates of terminally-ill patients and now, this pioneering research has won a national award.
Professor of Skin of Integrity Karen Ousey and Dr John Stephenson are from the University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention (ISIaIP). Together, alongside colleagues from Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, they have won the Best Clinical Research Award at the Journal of Wound Care Awards 2017.
The project looked at data spanning four years and included patients suffering from secondary spinal tumours. The information showed that when a terminally-ill patient contracted a SSI, not only did it cause undue suffering, it also had a major impact on the length of patient survival.
The team conducted a survival analysis which showed that life expectancy was on average 141 days shorter for SSI patients than non-SSI patients. In total, nationally, approximately 35 years of human life is lost per year.
“If you have got cancer with spinal metastases you want to avoid any risk of an infection,” said Professor Ousey. “Infection increases their time in hospital and greatly reduces the patient’s quality of life.”
The project is now complete and Professor Ousey said the way forward is to raise awareness of the complications from surgery. She explained how previous studies have shown that many patients, and some staff, are poorly informed and are unable to recognise the signs of an infection or are unaware of the causes or risk factors, or what can be done to combat them.
The research into surgical site infections was funded by the Healthcare Infection Society and the results have been published in the Journal of Infection Prevention. They also available online.
The Wound Care Awards resulted in a triple success for the Institute. In addition to winning the Best Clinical Research Award, Leanne Atkin (pictured left) was honoured in the Wound Assessment and Diagnostics Category for her leg ulcer algorithm and in the Professional Education Category the team came third for the development of the first UK-wide Tissue Viability Competency Framework.
The team also came third in the British Journal of Nursing awards in the category of Tissue Viability Team of the Year.
The article in the Journal of Infection Prevention is entitled Survival of Patients Undergoing Surgery for Metastatic Spinal Tumours and the Impact of Surgical Site Infection
