Local health departments (LHDs) can play a critical role in responding to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and strengthening infection control expertise, partnerships, and practices within their communities. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed critical opportunities to improve infection prevention and control (IPC), especially in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) given their high-risk populations and challenges, and highlighted the value of partnerships between LTCFs and LHDs to address such gaps in IPC.
To address this need, NACCHO, in collaboration with the APIC Consulting Services, developed a toolkit to inform and facilitate implementation of evidence-based best practices in IPC for LHDs, with a focus on IPC in long-term care (LTC). The toolkit also maps to the Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) to give a systematic assessment of a healthcare facility’s IPC practices and guide quality improvement activities. This toolkit does not have to be read from beginning to end, as chapters can help readers locate subject matter quickly and easily.
Chapter topics include:
- Local Health Departments Introduction to Infection Prevention and Control
- Understanding and Supporting the LTC IPC Program
- Chain of Infection
- Hand Hygiene
- Standard Precautions
- Isolation Precautions / Transmission-Based Precautions
- Injection Safety
- Point of Care (POC) Blood Glucose Testing
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Outbreak Investigation
- Antimicrobial Stewardship
- National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) in LTCFs
- Cleaning and Disinfection
- Wound Care
- IPC and Construction
- Environmental Services (EVS) / Housekeeping Services
- Healthcare Laundry
- Water Management
- Process Improvement
- Risk Assessments
- Tuberculosis (TB) Control Plan and Risk Assessment
- Bloodborne Pathogen (BBP) Exposure Control Plan
- Sample Materials for Conducting an Infection Control Assessment Response (ICAR) with LTCFs
To access the full toolkit, click here.
You can download editable versions of the toolkit PowerPoints here:
- Chapter 7: Injection Safety
- Chapter 8: Point of Care Blood Glucose Testing
- Chapter 10: Outbreak Investigation
