Infection Prevention

Many of the best practices for identifying, tracking, and preventing infections are the same across various healthcare settings. Several of the tools listed below were developed for use in other settings but can be readily adapted to long-term care. Some are flagged as being specific to skilled nursing facilities.

Antimicrobial Stewardship

NHQCC Learning Session 2
Qualis Health

Nursing Home Antimicrobial Stewardship Guide
AHRQ

Core Elements of Antimicrobial Stewardship for Nursing Homes
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

2016 Antimicrobial Stewardship Summit, Speaker Handouts
Northwest Hospital Alliance
 

Condition-Specific Resources

C. difficile

Guide to Preventing Clostridium difficile Infections
APIC

Learn about an opportunity to ramp up efforts related to Clostridium difficile (C. diff)  risk-assessment, monitoring, and prevention.

Sepsis

ID and WA Claims Data, by Community
See the 30-day rehospitalization rates for Medicare beneficiaries admitted with a primary diagnosis of septicemia.

 

SNF-Specific

Sepsis Toolkit for Post-Acute Care Settings
Developed by the New Jersey Sepsis Learning Action Coalition

Sepsis Management Across the Care Continuum
A webinar hosted by Qualis Health's Communities for Safer Transitions of Care team, originally recorded 11/17/16

 

Sepsis Fact Sheets
Jointly developed by the Sepsis Alliance, CDC, and Rory Staunton Foundation

Septicemia: Clinical and Patient Education Resources
Sepsis Alliance

Urinary tract infections (Listed on a separate webpage)

All other infections

Norovirus Prevention and Management in Skilled Nursing Facilities & Critical Access Hospitals
Qualis Health
In this recorded webinar, get information about norovirus prevention and outbreak management.

Guide to the Elimination of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the Long-Term Care Facility
APIC

Developing a Water Management Program to Reduce Legionella Growth and Spread in Buildings
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
All healthcare settings are now required to evaluate water systems in an effort to prevent legionnaires’ disease.

Guidance for Control of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
Oregon Health Authority

Facility Guidance for Control of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)—November 2015 Update CRE Toolkit
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Handwashing

Handwashing is the number one thing all can do to protect yourself, as well as your residents and their families, from infection. A recent Wall Street Journal article called out the benefits for using the World Health Organization’s technique to train healthcare personnel.

Use Qualis Health's "hand hygiene huddle" to engage residents and their families in infection prevention. has also done recent projects to encourage participation by hospital patients and families in handwashing.

Immunizations

This video introduces guidance and tools from AMDA's Infection Advisory Committee on pneumococcal vaccination for PA/LTC facilities.

View the CDC's immunization schedule for adults

Improve immunization rates for residents by implementing standing orders, standardizing any of your facility's current best practices, and consulting the Idaho or Washington immunization information system for a record of past vaccinations

Get detailed recommendations for improving immunization rates among healthcare workers

Read the CDC's recommendations for managing an outbreak of influenza

Medicare coverage, billing, and other immunization-related guidance from CMS

Resource Libraries

Resources from the CDC related to infection prevention in long-term care facilities, from clinical resources to resident and family education.

Infection Prevention (IP) Tools
 

Potential Local Partners

Your local health departments can be valuable partners regarding infection prevention. Find contacts for Idaho and Washington.

Training

Nursing home regulations require the facility infection control officer have relevant training. Places to start include:

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology Association (SHEA)

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

• Intermountain APIC (Idaho, Eastern Oregon, Northern Nevada)
• Inland Northwest APIC (North Idaho, Eastern Washington) Email contact
• Oregon and South Washington APIC
• Puget Sound APIC