The development of a long-term care infection prevention compendium during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: Long-term care (LTC) facilities experienced significant morbidity and mortality rates among both residents and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, for which they were ill-prepared to practice adequate infection prevention and control (IPC).

Methods: Our team developed a process for creating a compendium of curated IPC resources. This process harnessed the experience and expertise of nurses actively working in LTC during the pandemic.

Results: The publicly available online compendium of IPC resources is relevant to all departments found within LTC settings. The compendium contains a wide array of IPC tools, research, reports, international resources, and customizable educational slide decks.

Discussion: Online repositories of curated IPC resources can equip direct care workers with accurate, easily accessible resources to support the maintenance of proper IPC practice and protocol in LTC settings.

Conclusions: Future research should evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of this model and explore its utility in additional medical contexts.

Keywords: Nursing home.