Reducing COVID-19 Infection Rates in Long-Term Care Facilities Through Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused high rates of illness and death among patients and staff in long-term care facilities (LTCF). The DNP project aimed to reduce the impact through education of the Strike Team, a group of skilled health care workers from across North Carolina tasked to aid LTCF functions throughout the pandemic. Education included proper PPE donning and doffing, infection control recommendations, acquiring additional PPE and mandatory reporting of COVID-19 positive cases and deaths. Their training included a virtual return demonstration session with the DNP Project Student Team and concluded with a Qualtrics survey. Strike Team members then trained the LTCF staff on the information learned. There was a 90% completion rate, with 100% of the respondents feeling confident with using PPE correctly after the training, and 100% felt the training improved their knowledge regarding PPE use and infection control. 67% of respondents felt they had enough PPE supplies, and 78% felt they had enough time to correctly use PPE. Limitations included changing knowledge regarding the disease and management thereof, limited and variable data to measure the project’s efficacy, and delays in communication and productivity due to lack of direct contact with the project partner. It is recommended to use the most current data in future studies, create a list of contact information to improve communication, and view the educational material to establish baseline knowledge of proper PPE use and infection control.