Long-Term Care

Many studies have been done on how to increase hand hygiene adherence. However, ICT® decided to go to the source and ask the health care workers themselves why they do not always follow hand hygiene.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending September 23.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending September 9.

CDC’s Medical Advisor for the Healthcare Safety Network, Raymund Dantes, MD, MPH, reviews sepsis and what infection preventionists, epidemiologists, and other health care workers need to know.

Long-term care facilities were once normally happier places, but COVID-19 changed the individuals working and living there. PPEs, testing, overwork, underpayment, and too many isolations have chased health care workers away and forced the facilities' population to plummet. Can anything be done?

Prolonged catheter use is the number 1 risk factor for developing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). External urine collection devices are an alternative to indwelling catheters for managing urinary incontinence.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending August 5.

Adding staff is not the cure-all the CMS hopes it is. Higher wages and better government financial assistance would help, but fixing the system is not going to be easy.

COVID-19, and the emotional and physical toll it caused, reached all corners of the globe. At a nursing home in Hawaii, the staff describes how the pandemic has affected them.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 1.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending June 17.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending June 3.

Adding to their exhaustion because of other diseases rampant worldwide, like influenza and COVID-19, infection preventionists need to understand and recognize the basics of monkeypox as well since it has made its debut in the US.

Patients with home infusion therapy have improved outcomes when home health care agencies and acute care facilities communicate relevant information on their shared patients.

Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc (CBIC) is debuting a new certification for infection preventionists (IPs) who work in long-term care (LTC) settings.

Candida auris environmental contamination is unlikely to be adequately controlled because re-contamination occurs within hours after disinfection.

However, a large-scale randomized controlled trial in health care is needed.

A recent study's results also could indicate how other vaccinations, including COVID-19 and pneumonia, affect patients.

Summary: Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending March 18.

Ratings, ownership, and prior infection control citations of facilities were not consistent outcome indicators.

Key recommendations in the report include normalizing mask wearing and avoiding the supply chain failures.

Investigators used 3 behavior models to study how to increase health care workers’ compliance with infection prevention and control practices.

In a study of 11 LTC facilities, these surfaces were 4 times more likely to register high levels of crAssphage and adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Beneficiaries in both original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans will be able to obtain 8 free at-home COVID-19 tests a month.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending January 28.

Linda Spaulding, a member of ICT®’s Editorial Advisory Board, and a consultant, plans to fly out to Hawaii later this week to advise her LTCF clients in that state about how best to get through the current surge.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending December 17

Having an infection preventionist on site or as a consultant to lead infection prevention and control training makes a difference. The ability to screen, isolate, or group patients can save lives. Ongoing testing of residents and staff is critical.

As COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and mortality rates head downward, pediatric SARS-CoV-2 rates rise, and nursing homes can again become disaster zones. And remember: Winter is coming.

Infection preventionists across health care settings struggle with a myriad of problems during this pandemic. IPs at nursing homes have it particularly hard.