Nursing Home Infection Control Targeted Surveys are Now Being Conducted
Attention All Nursing Homes That Have Had at Least One Infection Control Related Deficiency in the Past Three Years
Nursing Home Infection Control Targeted Surveys are Now Being Conducted
On March 13th, 2020, CMS and CDC issued a guideline on how to reduce the spread of infection in Nursing Homes. To evaluate the effectiveness of the guideline, CMS and CDC conducted a targeted infection control survey.
On March 30th, the survey results revealed that 36% of all the facilities surveyed failed to demonstrate appropriate handwashing techniques. Additionally, 25% of the surveyed facilities failed to demonstrate the appropriate use of PPE. As a result, CMS decided to conduct targeted infection control inspections. Surveyors will be focusing on facilities that have had at least one deficiency in infection control and prevention-related areas (including handwashing, use of PPE, and other infection prevention and control deficiencies that can promote the spread of infection, including #COVID-19).
It is important to be prepared and to ensure that your staff are adhering to the infection control guidelines, in order to save lives and avoid immediate jeopardy and/or hefty fines from deficiencies.
Where do you go from here?
Below are six (6) tips to prepare your facility:
Communicate the above initiative with your staff via a face-to-face staff meeting.
Review all staff in-service records (using the payroll list to make sure that you capture all staff on payroll), to ensure that all staff members have been in-serviced on handwashing and PPE use.
Review all staff competency records to ensure that all staff members have a competency evaluation on handwashing and PPE use.
Conduct random daily audits on handwashing and PPE use.
Provide one-on-one documented education to all staff who failed to follow appropriate handwashing techniques and PPE use.
Assign your off-shift supervisors to conduct at least one audit on handwashing and PPE use.
Begin immediately to implement the recommendations above. Whether you have had an infection control deficiency or not, with COVID-19 we must take all the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of our residents and staff.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.