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Infection Prevention and Control Resources

With the latest updates to the State Operations Manual, it is more important than ever to promote resident safety and well-being through infection prevention and control. A robust and successful infection control program requires many thoughtfully designed and well-operating pieces—from antibiotic stewardship and physician engagement to immunization planning and tracking, reduced hospital readmissions, and comprehensive clinical surveillance. Explore the resources below to learn how you can bolster your infection control program.

Learn more about  AADNS's comprehensive Antibiotic Stewardship Program in Long-Term Care Virtual Workshop.

  • March 3 CMS Quarterly Dementia Care Call to Target Infection Prevention, Staffing, Restful Environment: Register Now

    By CMS - January 05, 2020
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  • Tuberculosis Screening, Testing, and Treatment of US Healthcare Personnel: Free CE (12/19)

    By CDC - December 04, 2019
    New FREE Continuing Education Activity from MMWR and Medscape

    CDC’s MMWR and Medscape are proud to introduce a new FREE continuing education (CE) activity. The goal of this activity is to describe updated National TB Controllers Association (NTCA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for screening, testing, and treating U.S. health care personnel (HCP) for tuberculosis (TB) to prevent transmission in healthcare settings.

    This activity is intended for public health/prevention officials, infectious disease physicians, hospital administrators, internists, pulmonologists, nurses and pharmacists and other physicians involved in prevention of TB transmission among and through HCPs.

    Upon completion of this activity, participants will:

    ·  Describe updated NTCA and CDC recommendations for baseline and postexposure TB screening and testing for HCPs

    ·  Determine updated NTCA and CDC recommendations for serial screening and testing for HCPs without latent TB infection

    ·  Identify updated NTCA and CDC recommendations for evaluation and treatment of HCPs with positive TB test results

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  • Nursing Home Infection Control Self-Assesssment Worksheet From CMS and CDC (12/19)

    By CMS - December 02, 2019

    This 2019 Nursing Home Infection Control Worksheet (ICWS) is a collaborative effort by CMS and CDC and meant to be used by facilities as a self-assessment tool. It comprises both regulatory requirements and best practices in infection prevention and control. A facility that uses this ICWS will identify gaps in practice and have a “roadmap” that can lead to an improved infection prevention and control program. The assessment reviews the following domains:

    • Infection Control program infrastructure and Infection Preventionist
    • Infection Preventionist relationship to Quality Assurance Committee
    • Infection surveillance and outbreak response.
    • Influenza and pneumococcal Immunization
    • Linen management
    • Infection prevention during transitions of care
    • Water Management Program
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  • CMS Online Training: How to Develop an Antibiotic Stewardship Program (11/19)

    By CMS - November 27, 2019
    Class Description: To provide technical assistance to nursing home providers on the implementation of an Antibiotic Stewardship Program. Training goals include to support compliance with the requirements for an antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) and to improve appropriate antibiotic usage. Completion of the training does not automatically deem a provider compliant. This training supports compliance, but providers must still meet all components of the antibiotic stewardship requirements.
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  • Infection Surveillance: How to Beef Up Your Program

    By Caralyn Davis, Staff Writer - November 27, 2019

    A key problem in many nursing homes is inadequate infection surveillance. The written standards, policies, and procedures for an infection prevention and control program (IPCP) must include “a system of surveillance designed to identify possible communicable diseases or infections before they can spread to other persons in the facility,” according to §483.80(a)(2)(i) of the Code of Federal Regulations.

    "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants providers to have a more formalized surveillance program, says Deb Patterson Burdsall, PhD, RN-BC, CIC, FAPIC. “You have to understand the epidemiological concepts of incidence and prevalence rates; how to calculate infection rates; and how to feed that information back in a feedback loop to the frontline providers—the people who can actually do something about what is going on with infection data.”

    With the support of the director of nursing services, the infection preventionist can implement the key steps to develop an effective infection surveillance program. Read this article to find out those steps!
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  • Q&A: If you require influenza vaccines for employees and they fill out a religious or medical deferral, do you require the employee to wear a face mask for the entire influenza season?

    By Glenda Nelson, BSN, RN - November 26, 2019
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  • Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel Guidelines (Part I) - Updated (10/19)

    By CDC - October 23, 2019
    Preventing the transmission of infectious diseases among healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients is a critical component of safe healthcare delivery in all healthcare settings. Today, CDC published Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel: Infrastructure and Routine Practices for Occupational Infection Prevention and Control Services, an update of four sections of Part I of the Guideline for infection control in health care personnel, 1998 (“1998 Guideline“) and their corresponding recommendations in Part II:

    ·  C. Infection Control Objectives for a Personnel Health Service

    ·  D. Elements of a Personnel Health Service for Infection Control

    ·  H. Emergency-Response Personnel

    ·  J. The Americans With Disabilities Act

    The updated recommendations are aimed at the leaders and staff of Occupational Health Services (OHS) and the administrators and leaders of healthcare organizations (HCO) and are intended to facilitate the provision of occupational infection prevention and control (IPC) services to HCP and prevent the spread of infections between HCP and others. Additional updates to the 1998 Guideline are underway and will be published in the future. Updates in Part I include: 

    ·  a broader range of elements necessary for providing occupational IPC services to HCP;

    ·  applicability to the wider range of healthcare settings where patient care is now delivered, including hospital-based, long-term care, and outpatient settings such as ambulatory and home healthcare; and

    ·  expanded guidance on policies and procedures for occupational IPC services and strategies for delivering occupational IPC services to HCP.

    New topics include:

    ·  administrative support and resource allocation for OHS by senior leaders and management,

    ·  service oversight by OHS leadership, and

    ·  use of performance measures to track occupational IPC services and guide quality improvement initiatives.  

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  • Oct. 24 CDC Call With Free CE: Preventing the Spread of Novel or Targeted Multidrug-resistant Organisms (MDROs) in Nursing Homes through Enhanced Barrier Precautions

    By CDC - October 23, 2019

    At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to accomplish the following:

    • Describe the burden of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs).
    • Describe challenges to preventing MDRO transmission in nursing homes.
    • Define Standard Precautions, Enhanced Barrier Precautions, and Contact Precautions.
    • Identify which residents and activities meet criteria for Enhanced Barrier Precautions.
    • Discuss best practices for implementing Enhanced Barrier Precautions.
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  • Infection Prevention and Control: CDC Prevention Epicenters Program Innovation and Best Practices for PPE Use (10/19)

    By CDC - October 23, 2019

    Unrecognized spread of germs from healthcare personnel (HCP) contamination occurs every day in healthcare settings, posing a risk to patients and HCP alike. Recent Ebola virus outbreaks demonstrated that the potential for transmission of any pathogen in healthcare settings poses an immediate and serious threat. 

     Preventing the spread of germs in healthcare is essential to protecting the health of patients and HCP. This International Infection Prevention Week, the CDC Prevention Epicenters Program is pleased to announce a groundbreaking new journal supplement, “Personal Protective Equipment for Preventing Contact Transmission of Pathogens: Innovations from CDC’s Prevention Epicenters Program,” composed of 14 in-depth studies, published in this month’s Clinical Infectious Diseases. This research provides insights from recent personal protective equipment (PPE) work in U.S. healthcare settings. It provides evidence to improve routine use of PPE, and to prevent contact transmission of Ebola and other infectious diseases in healthcare settings.

    All healthcare settings can benefit from improvements in PPE use and design. PPE plays an important role in preventing the spread of infectious diseases in healthcare settings, but its optimal design and use need to be informed by dedicated research to achieve the reliability and effectiveness needed to protect patients and HCP. 

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  • Updated Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel Guidelines (Part I) (10/19)

    By CDC - October 18, 2019

    Preventing the transmission of infectious diseases among healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients is a critical component of safe healthcare delivery in all healthcare settings. Today, CDC published Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel: Infrastructure and Routine Practices for Occupational Infection Prevention and Control Services, an update of four sections of Part I of the Guideline for infection control in health care personnel, 1998 (“1998 Guideline“) and their corresponding recommendations in Part II:

    ·  C. Infection Control Objectives for a Personnel Health Service

    ·  D. Elements of a Personnel Health Service for Infection Control

    ·  H. Emergency-Response Personnel

    ·  J. The Americans With Disabilities Act

    Read more

  • Infection Prevention and Control: CDC Looks at Culture-Confirmed Candidemia (9/19)

    By CDC - September 22, 2019
    Public Health Action: Active surveillance for candidemia yielded important information about the disease incidence and death rate and persons at greatest risk. The surveillance was expanded to nine sites in 2017, which will improve understanding of the geographic variability in candidemia incidence and associated clinical and demographic features. This surveillance will help monitor incidence trends, track emergence of resistance and species distribution, monitor changes in underlying conditions and predisposing factors, assess trends in antifungal treatment and outcomes, and be helpful for those developing prevention efforts. IDU has emerged as an important risk factor for candidemia, and interventions to prevent invasive fungal infections in this population are needed. Surveillance data documenting that approximately two thirds of candidemia cases were caused by species other than C. albicans, which are generally associated with greater antifungal resistance than C. albicans, and the presence of substantial fluconazole resistance supports 2016 clinical guidelines recommending a switch from fluconazole to echinocandins as the initial treatment for candidemia in most patients.

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  • New CDC Infection Control Training (9/19)

    By CDC - August 31, 2019

     

    We are pleased to announce the launch of the Environmental Cleaning and Personal Protective Equipment courses, the latest in a series of 11 new infection control training courses. These courses are part of the new States Targeting Reduction in Infections via Engagement (STRIVE) curriculum intended for the infection prevention team, hospital leaders, clinical educators, nurse and physician managers, environmental services managers, all patient care staff, and patient/family advisors. Additional courses will be launched in the coming months. 

    These training courses were developed by national infection prevention experts led by the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    All courses are free and offer continuing education (CE).

     

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  • AHRQ Study: Adverse Events in LTC Residents Transitioning From Hospital Back to NF (8/19)

    By AHRQ - August 12, 2019

    Transitions from hospitals to long-term care facilities are associated with safety hazards. This prospective cohort study identified adverse events in the 45 days following acute hospitalization among 555 nursing home residents, which included 762 discharges during the study period. Investigators found that adverse events occurred after approximately half of discharges. Common adverse events included falls, pressure ulcers, health care–associated infections, and adverse drug events. Most adverse events were deemed preventable or ameliorable. The authors conclude that improved communication and coordination between discharging hospitals and receiving long term-care facilities are urgently needed to address this patient safety gap. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed challenges of nursing home care that may contribute to adverse events.


    Transitions from hospitals to long-term care facilities are associated with safety hazards. This prospective cohort study identified adverse events in the 45 days following acute hospitalization among 555 nursing home residents, which included 762 discharges during the study period. Investigators found that adverse events occurred after approximately half of discharges. Common adverse events included falls, pressure ulcers, health care–associated infections, and adverse drug events. Most adverse events were deemed preventable or ameliorable. The authors conclude that improved communication and coordination between discharging hospitals and receiving long term-care facilities are urgently needed to address this patient safety gap. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed challenges of nursing home care that may contribute to adverse events.
    Transitions from hospitals to long-term care facilities are associated with safety hazards. This prospective cohort study identified adverse events in the 45 days following acute hospitalization among 555 nursing home residents, which included 762 discharges during the study period. Investigators found that adverse events occurred after approximately half of discharges. Common adverse events included falls, pressure ulcers, health care–associated infections, and adverse drug events. Most adverse events were deemed preventable or ameliorable. The authors conclude that improved communication and coordination between discharging hospitals and receiving long term-care facilities are urgently needed to address this patient safety gap. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed challenges of nursing home care that may contribute to adverse events.

    Transitions from hospitals to long-term care facilities are associated with safety hazards. This prospective cohort study identified adverse events in the 45 days following acute hospitalization among 555 nursing home residents, which included 762 discharges during the study period. Investigators found that adverse events occurred after approximately half of discharges. Common adverse events included falls, pressure ulcers, health care–associated infections, and adverse drug events. Most adverse events were deemed preventable or ameliorable. The authors conclude that improved communication and coordination between discharging hospitals and receiving long term-care facilities are urgently needed to address this patient safety gap. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed challenges of nursing home care that may contribute to adverse events.


    Transitions from hospitals to long-term care facilities are associated with safety hazards. This prospective cohort study identified adverse events in the 45 days following acute hospitalization among 555 nursing home residents, which included 762 discharges during the study period. Investigators found that adverse events occurred after approximately half of discharges. Common adverse events included falls, pressure ulcers, health care–associated infections, and adverse drug events. Most adverse events were deemed preventable or ameliorable. The authors conclude that improved communication and coordination between discharging hospitals and receiving long term-care facilities are urgently needed to address this patient safety gap. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed challenges of nursing home care that may contribute to adverse events.


    Read more

  • Optimize the Infection Preventionist’s QAPI/QAA Role

    By Caralyn Davis, Staff Writer - August 07, 2019

    Effective November 28, at least one designated infection preventionist who meets specific education, training, and time requirements must be responsible for the infection prevention and control program in every Medicare- and/or Medicaid-certified skilled nursing facility/nursing facility (SNF/NF). One of those responsibilities is to be a member of the quality assessment and assurance (QAA) committee and to regularly report to the committee about the infection prevention and control program.

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  • Updated CDC Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Measles in Healthcare Settings (7/19)

    By CDC - July 29, 2019
    Please note that nursing homes are one of the applicable healthcare settings listed by the CDC.
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