Effectiveness of Isolating Clostridium Difficile Asymptomatic Carriers on the Incidence of Infections

Background: There is an urgent need to develop new strategies to prevent Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). A recent study suggests that a novel infection control bundle (IC bundle) can lead to a significant decrease in the incidence of CDI in acute-care hospitals. This IC bundle consists in screening patients for C. difficile carriage upon their admission combined with implementation of isolation precautions for carriers. Further investigations are required to confirm these findings. Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of implementing a multicenter interventional study to further to investigate the efficacy of this IC bundle. Methods: Prospective, cluster randomized feasibility trial of 2 infection control strategies (a \"standard\" and an \"experimental\" strategy) to reduce transmission of C. difficile among patients in 20 medical wards in 5 acute-care facilities in Quebec. Wards will be randomized (1:1) to one of the 2 interventions. Each intervention will be applied to all patients present on selected wards. The study will be divided into (1) a 3-month baseline period; (2) a 2-week randomization and implementation period; and (3) an 8-week intervention period. Intervention: The \"experimental strategy\" includes the components of the above-mentioned IC bundle. The \"standard strategy\" will not implement the IC bundle. Outcomes: As a feasibility study, process evaluation will form the primary and secondary outcomes. These outcomes will allow to determine whether a future main trial is possible and desirable. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the intervention will be implementable across the study wards. Significance: This study is essential to plan a subsequent definitive trial to determine whether the IC bundle can prevent CDI.