Feds should require full-time infection control specialists at nursing homes, association says
By
Jessica R. Towhey
Jun 20, 2023
The federal government should require a full-time infection preventionist in every nursing home, say leaders of a large ICP association.
Feds mull shortened COVID-19 quarantine period
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 30, 2020
There is “a preponderance of evidence” that a shorter quarantine period, complemented by a COVID-19 test, could effectively prevent transmission of the disease, according to Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant...
Show us the data: COVID vaccine boosters may get go-ahead, but LTC docs remain wary
By
Alicia Lasek
Danielle Brown
Aug 09, 2021
Booster shots for the most vulnerable appear to be on a fast track to federal authorization. But clinicians want information about necessity, safety, dosing and more to justify prescribing an extra dose...
Ask the care expert … about gait belts and infection control
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Apr 01, 2013
We use gait belts at my building. We assign a gait belt to an aide who uses them the entire shift. Do you think with all of the infection prevention techniques we should change our policy?
Sick staff at work costs more than expected: study
By
John Hall
Aug 25, 2022
A new study reveals how a single sick caregiver can easily infect residents and co-workers in a long-term care setting and drive up treatment costs by thousands of dollars.
APIC urges LTC industry to boost infection control capabilities with full-time, certified staff
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 09, 2022
With the lessons of the pandemic fresh in mind, now is the time for LTC administrators to commit to recruiting and training dedicated, on-site infection preventionists, experts say. Sources of federal...
New cases of antifungal-resistant yeast infections in nursing homes alarm CDC
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 26, 2021
For the first time, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has identified U.S. nursing home residents and hospital patients with candida auris yeast infections that resist all first-line antifungal...
Providers urged to remember COVID-19 tactics as dangerous flu season looms
By
Joe Bush
Oct 06, 2022
Influenza, once the respiratory scourge that nursing home residents and professionals feared the most each year before COVID-19 hit, should be back on providers’ radar in a big way, experts warn.
Don’t shelve rapid tests as COVID cases climb, advocates implore nursing homes
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 03, 2020
Industry advocates say it’s time for facility operators who have not made full use of rapid antigen tests to start doing so — before nursing home deaths begin to spike again. CMS must “take to...
Major nursing home association urges COVID emergency extension, revised guidance
By
John Hall
Aug 10, 2022
The nation’s largest nursing home group has requested the federal government extend the current public health emergency declaration as providers continue their fight against emerging COVID variants.