Assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of using a hand dermatitis self assessment screening questionnaire in a workplace health surveillance programme
Occupational hand dermatitis
To explore our research question, we propose to invite either clinical or non-clinical staff from three different Trusts who are at risk of developing occupational hand dermatitis because of their work (washing their hands more than 10 times a day at work), to take part in our research. We will identify workers by liaising with the Trust occupational health services and Trust managers. Staff who wish to be involved will be asked to complete a short on-line questionnaire asking them some simple questions including whether they think that they currently have hand or wrist dermatitis and in which location on their hands or wrists. We will ask them to take selfie photographs of their hands and wrists using smart phones using a standard method (procedure). These will be uploaded on to the electronic portal at the same time they complete their questionnaire (or within a 3 day window period). We will ask staff and managers how easy it was to administer and use the questionnaire and take the hand photographs and send them back to the study team. The photographs will then be accessed by a trained dermatology nurse, to assess whether the staff participants have dermatitis using the Validated Investigator Global Assessment for Atopic Dermatitis (vIGA-AD) tool. The nurse’s assessment will further be corrected for the dermatologists’ expert opinion where needed, in the cases that the vIGA-AD assessment differs from participants’ self-reports of dermatitis. The nurse’s assessment of participants’ dermatitis (corrected by dermatologist if required) (gold standard) will then be compared with whether the staff participants thought that they had hand dermatitis (new proposed screening tool). Using the findings from this study, we will then be able to determine how accurate the participants are in knowing whether they have hand dermatitis, and whether this is for non-clinical as well as clinical staff and for staff with different skin colours. Additionally, we will also assess how
1. NHS staff (clinical and non-clinical) who are at increased risk of developing occupational hand dermatitis, here defined as staff who on average wash their hands with soap and water for a minimum of 10 times a day at work. Examples of staff we will include are nurses (with the exception of ICU nurses - as this occupational group were part of the original SCIN study), operating department practitioners, mortuary staff, clinical scientists and bench staff working in laboratories. We will aim at recruiting participants representing different skin phototypes . 2. Additionally, to be eligible participants will need to employed by the participating NHS organisation AND have access to a smart phone or tablet device for the purpose of taking and sending in hand photographs. 3. All participants must be aged 16-80 years and have a valid NHS email address to be eligible for entry into the study.
1. Individuals with current dermatitis as diagnosed by a medical practitioner 2. Individuals who have used topical steroid cream to their hands in the past 6 weeks 3. Visiting or temporary personnel who are undertaking duties on NHS premises including students on placements 4. Contractors and anyone not directly employed by the participating NHS organisation 5. Individuals on long term sick leave (4 weeks or longer)