Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) can lead to significant illnesses and even death among nursing facility residents. HAI are responsible for nearly half of all transfers from nursing facilities to hospitals, leading to between 150,000 to 200,000 hospital admissions each year. When a nursing facility resident is hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of infection, the mortality rate can be as high as 40%, with pneumonia being the leading cause of death.
Older adults who reside in nursing facilities may have diminished immune responses, increasing their risk for developing infections. Other risk factors include:
- Close quarter living;
- Reduced responsiveness to vaccinations;
- Chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc.;
- Degenerative diseases that require the use of prosthetic devices (e.g., joint prostheses, implantable cardiac devices); and
- Use of invasive medical devices, such as central venous lines, urinary catheters or enteral feeding tubes
Residents with cognitive impairment may not be compliant with sanitary practices such as handwashing and basic personal hygiene, leading to an increased risk of infection.
Resources Created by DADS
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Evidence-Based Best Practices: Infection Control is a guide for developing a facility-wide system for infection prevention and control.
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State and Federal Infection Control Requirements is a consolidated listing of the state and federal requirements for infection control programs in nursing facilities.
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Infection Control Skills Checklists are tools for use in staff education and for monitoring compliance with infection control protocols.
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Quality Monitoring Program Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccinations for Nursing Homes includes information for developing a system for immunizations, as well as the current CDC guidelines for influenza and pneumococcal vaccines.
Resources from Other Organizations
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Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) Control and Prevention Toolkit will help facilities develop interventions to prevent infections caused by CRE.
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Infection Preventionist’s Guide to Long-Term Care is available for purchase from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). This guide provides a comprehensive approach to developing a facility-wide infection prevention and control program.
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Recommended Practices for Surveillance outlines the seven recommended practices for monitoring, measuring, and reporting important outcomes and processes to assist surveillance program development.
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Surveillance Definitions of Infections in Long-Term Care Facilities-Revisiting the McGeer Criteria outlines the updated surveillance definitions for infections in long-term care settings.
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Long-Term Care Baseline Prevention Practices Assessment Tool can be used by facility staff to evaluate the status of their infection prevention and control program.
- Infection Control Assessment Tool for Long-term Care Facilities can be used by nursing facilities to evaluate their Infection Control programs and practices.
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Nursing Homes and Assisted Living (Long-term Care Facilities) is a website for clinical professionals, residents and their families. Resources include a number of fact sheets, guidelines and toolkits that address infection control and prevention.
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Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings provides healthcare workers and their patients with helpful information, including hand hygiene guidelines, self-assessment tools and other educational resources.
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2015 CRE Toolkit-Guidance for Control of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae includes the current CDC guidelines for the prevention and control of CRE infections.
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Seasonal Influenza (Flu) is a comprehensive resource for influenza-related information.
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Influenza provides Texas-specific information regarding the distribution of flu cases across the state, as well as updates on locations for receiving immunizations.
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Guidelines for Investigation & Control of Invasive, Respiratory, Foodborne and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases provides a centralized resource for outbreaks and reportable disease investigations.
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Notifiable Conditions is a current list of infectious diseases and other conditions that must be reported to state and/or local health authorities. Information on reporting procedures in included as well.
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Antibiotic Resistant/Multi-Drug Organisms provides information on drug-resistant organisms, including MRSA, C. diff and CRE.
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Partnering to Heal: Teaming Up Against Health Care-Associated Infections is an interactive video-simulation training program on infection control practices.
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WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care 2009 provides health care workers with evidence-based recommendations for hand hygiene in healthcare settings.
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Five Moments for Hand Hygiene is a graphic representation of the WHO Guidelines for Hand Hygiene in Health Care.