Research Article: Barriers to and facilitators of effective management of fever episodes in hospitalised Kenyan children with cancer: protocol for convergent mixed methods study
Abstract:
Introduction Febrile neutropenia is an oncological emergency in children with cancer, associated with serious infections and complications. In low-resourced settings, death from infections in children with cancer is 20 times higher than in high-resourced treatment settings, thought to be related to delays in antibiotic administration and management. The barriers to effective management of fever episodes in children with cancer have not previously been described. This convergent mixed-methods study will provide the evidence to develop fever treatment guidelines and to inform their effective implementation in children with cancer at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), a level 6 referral hospital in western Kenya. Methods and analysis Prospective data collection of paediatric patients with cancer with new fever episodes admitted to MTRH will be performed during routine treatment. Clinical variables will be collected from 50 fever episodes, including cancer diagnosis and infectious characteristics of the fever episode, and elapsed time from fever onset to various milestones in the management workflow. Semistructured qualitative interviews with healthcare providers (estimated 20 to reach saturation) will explore the barriers to and facilitators of appropriate management of fever episodes in children with cancer. The interview guide was informed by a theoretical framework and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. A mixed-methods analysis use of joint display tables and process mapping will link and integrate the two types of data with meta-inferences. Ethics and dissemination Institutional review board approval was obtained from the MTRH (0004273) and the University of Michigan (HUM0225674), and the study was registered with National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (P/23/22885). Written consent will be obtained from all participants. Results will be formally shared with local and national policy leadership and local end users, presented at relevant national academic conferences and submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Introduction:
In the paediatric patient with cancer, fever and neutropenia (FN), defined as an absolute neutrophil count <500?cells/µL and a fever 38°C for >1?hour or single fever >38.3°C, is an oncological emergency with high risk of serious bacterial infections and subsequent mortality. 1–3 Blood stream infections (BSIs) in children with cancer have a higher incidence during FN episodes compared with patients without neutropenia (11–24% vs 5%), and 0.9–11% with intensive care unit admissions during FN episodes. 4 5…
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