Improving Staff Education and Application of Knowledge Regarding COVID-19 Transmission Prevention in Long-Term Care Facilities in North Carolina: A Collaborative Effort

Abstract

Long-term care facilities (LTCF) residents and staff were disproportionately affected by the COVD-19 pandemic. This DNP project was a quality improvement undertaking that sought to increase the strike team's proficiency in donning and doffing procedures, who would train the LTC facility staff on the CDC-approved donning and doffing procedures. Education included proper PPE donning and doffing, infection control practices like sanitizing surfaces, acquiring additional PPE, and mandatory reporting of COVID-19 positive cases and deaths. The training included a PowerPoint presentation followed by a virtual return demonstration session with the DNP Student Project Team and a Qualtrics survey. The project team implemented the interventions virtually due to the nationwide lockdown. There was a 90% completion rate, with 82% of the respondents feeling confident with using PPE correctly after the training. 73% of respondents thought they had enough PPE supplies, and 82% thought they had enough time to use PPE correctly. Challenges included rapidly changing knowledge regarding the disease and management, limited and variable data to measure the project's effectiveness, communication delays due to lack of direct contact with the project partner. Any studies in the future may need to refer to the most up-to-date data and establish better communications avenues with the project partner.