Improving COVID-19 Transmission Rates in Long Term Care Facilities

Abstract

Long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are at increased risk for outbreaks of COVID-19. Infection control measures have been an issue for LTCFs before the pandemic. The DNP project aimed to provide education to strike team members to facilitate and implement infection control protocols in long-term care facilities to mitigate the transmission risk to residents and staff. Education was provided to strike team members that included a review of COVID-19, suggested infection control protocols, and proper donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE). Virtual return demonstrations were conducted by the DNP student team, which was followed by a Qualtrics survey to assess the strike team members’ perception of the education. There was a 24% completion rate with 100% of the participants feeling confident in properly donning and doffing PPE after the educational presentation, 72 % felt they had enough PPE, and 78% felt they had enough time to don and doff PPE properly. Due to limited data, the project does not reveal whether the interventions were effective in decreasing transmission rates.