Infection prevention programs have traditionally focused on inpatient, critically ill patient populations. There is a growing body of literature on the special infection prevention needs in nursing homes and long term care facilities. This is with good cause.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires that “the facility must establish and maintain an infection control program designed to provide a safe, sanitary, and comfortable environment and to help prevent the development and transmission of disease and infection” An infection control program should include the following components: “(1) investigates, controls, and prevents infections in the facility; (2) decides what procedures, such as isolation should be applied to an individual resident; and (3) maintains a record of incidents and corrective actions related to infections."
A recent paper published in AJIC reports on nursing home deficiencies in infection control. Data was obtained from 2000-2007 from the Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting data base, which contains information on both deficiency citations and facility characteristics. Using multivariable analysis, low staffing levels were highly predictive of infection prevention deficiencies. An average of 15% of all nursing homes received a deficiency citation for infection control each year from 2000 to 2007.
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| Source:AJIC: American Journal of Infection Control Volume 39, Issue 4 , Pages 263-269, May 2011- average number of deficiency citations used per nursing home in each state. |
Old age is looking less and less appealing.
