Nursing Homes with Trained Infection Control Professionals are More Likely to Implement Infection Control Policies and Programs

Restriction of the use of specific antibiotics Use of antibiotic prescribing guideline/order form Use of therapeutic formularies Provision of feedback to clinicians on antibiotic prescribing Review of cases to assess antibiotic appropriateness Written guidelines for antibiotic use Collection of data on antibiotic utilization Transfer of infected residents to another facility Use of rapid diagnostic methods for case detection Closure of the nursing home to new admissions Administration of prophylaxis Quarantining of units on which outbreaks occur Restriction of visitors Cohorting of infected residents Confining of residents to rooms Instruction of infected staff to stay home Implemention of isolation precautions Reuse of disposable items Sterile supplies Disinfection of equipment Separation of clean and soiled utility areas Environmental cleaning For men, use of condom catheters Urinary catheter reminder or stop-order Use of portable bladder ultrasound scanner Nurse-initiated urinary catheter discontinuation For residents with leg bags, leg bag cleaning Specimen collection prior to initiating antimicrobial therapy For mobile residents, leg bags for daytime use Hydration protocols Staff education on perineal care BACKGROUND All skilled nursing facilities/nursing homes (NHs) are required to have infection prevention and control programs  Two key components of those programs are a trained professional to head the program and written and disseminated infection control (IC) policies  The expectations of those programs are addressed during annual inspections conducted for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services certification  Poor performance can result in a deficiency citation  IC is consistently among the top ten most common types of deficiencies in US NHs RESULTS: INFECTION CONTROL PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND THE PRESENCE OF POLICIES AND PROGRAMS