Yes, Long-Term Care and Nursing facilities should have systems to track HAIs like hospitals. For too long CDC’s HAI tracking system, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), has not required surveillance of infection outbreaks in nursing homes. To adequately prevent and control infections that impact elderly Americans, long-term care facilities must be required to address infections as thoroughly as hospitals.
“While having the appropriate level of nurses is important in nursing homes, that alone is not enough to keep patients safe from harm,” said 2023 APIC President Patricia Jackson, RN, MA, CIC, FAPIC. “These facilities must be required to have at least one full-time, dedicated infection preventionist to ensure they have the necessary protections and safeguards in place to keep our loved ones safe from preventable infections and other emerging infectious diseases.”
While the points above are qualified for such an action, the fact is there are not enough trained individuals to do the ICP function.
It is this author’s belief that as a quick and affordable start, infection prevention must be re-engineered with better tools and protocols. N-95 Masks and other Respirators need to fit better and be easy to use for extended periods of time; gowns should be easily donned and made of fabrics that are not heat traps; patient rooms should be single occupancy, and automated disinfection systems should be rapidly adopted. All patients should be treated as potentially infected, and the appropriate PPE be worn according to the intervention. We need to eliminate the need for “infection precaution designations”. At best, these designations are partially correct, especially since most infections are viral.
To prevent infections the environment and patient care equipment must be regularly disinfected, Period.
By automating the disinfection process, studies show a greater increase in participation, a higher standard of cleanliness and great savings in disinfection time, supplies, and environmental costs. Most importantly the time savings results in lower labor costs and improved patient care.
Disinfection systems in hospitals are already moving to hands-free applications to increase speed, efficiency and deliver consistent results. Large room UVC robots, a variety of Foggers are proven solutions but can be daunting to “Care” facilities due to their costs and logistical challenges. Affordable UVC cabinet systems like the Model RDS-32a, from TMG Health Technologies are used for health electronics, keyboards, tablets, cell phones, and 100s of shared patient care tools including glucometers, EKG leads, blood pressure cuffs, etc. By combining automated UVC disinfection cabinets with hand cleaning stations healthcare workers can perform simultaneous hand-hygiene and equipment disinfection in the same single 30 second cycle.
Most importantly, these devices provide a standardized, automated high-level disinfection, a confirmation of efficacy, can operate as a desktop or mobile solution for shared use on 110V or battery operation, and when incorporated into the facility’s “PSRP” Patient Supply Recovery Program, an ROI of < 90 days can be realized.
Hospitals and nursing homes need to take action now to simplify procedural protocols for disinfection and acquire the tools to automate the process. Doing so as an immediate next step will show Regulators, Employees and Patients that infections are a serious concern, and the health and safety of employees, patients and guests really do matter.
Dr. Paxton has 40 plus years’ experience in Infectious disease consulting. A member of APIC, SHEA, and ASM. Dr. Paxton has extensive knowledge in disinfection and is an expert in infection prevention strategies and policies. TMG Health Technologies is a biosafety company dedicated to the art and science of infection prevention, providing fast, convenient decontamination solutions that lead to improved patient outcomes, cost containment, and operational savings.
www.tmghealthtech.com
