TIP: CDC Releases Viral Respiratory Pathogens Toolkit for Nursing Homes

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Viral Respiratory Pathogens Toolkit for Nursing Homes provides a comprehensive approach that includes infection prevention, testing, vaccination, and treatment. This toolkit includes guidance and recommendations and resources that nursing leadership can use to fight respiratory infections. This AAPACN resource is copyright protected. AAPACN …

Infection Control Issues and Career Advancement of the Infection Preventionist

In this podcast, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, chief nursing officer for AAPACN, and Dr. Devin Jopp, EdD, chief executive officer for the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), discuss the role of the infection preventionist in long-term care and how this respiratory season …

F677: How to De-Risk ADL Care for Dependent Residents

Providing residents with the appropriate level of assistance in the activities of daily living (ADLs) is foundational to care in nursing homes, yet the ADLs consistently remain a common citation risk in the survey process. From 2021 to summer 2024, F677 (ADL Care Provided for Dependent Residents) is the eighth most-cited F-tag …

Skilled Teaching and Training: Benefit From the Care Team’s Expertise

Like care plan management and evaluation and observation and assessment of a resident’s condition, teaching and training activities are a core nonskilled component of resident care that can rise to the level of a skilled service. Another way that these indirect skilled services are alike is that they historically haven’t …

CDC NHSN HCP & Resident Vaccination Module

Long-term care facilities can track weekly vaccination data for residents and healthcare personnel (HCP) through NHSN. August 2024 Updates Resources Influenza/RSV July 2024 Updates Timestamps in NHSN Beginning August 8, 2024, timestamps in the NHSN application (such as “date created” and “date last modified” fields) will display in Coordinated Universal …

Influenza and Pneumonia Vaccination Toolkit

The flu season is here, and yearly vaccination is a key component of an infection control program. The Influenza and Pneumonia Vaccination Toolkit will assist the director of nursing services (DNS) with auditing influenza and pneumonia vaccinations. There is also a vaccination tracking tool included to assist the DNS with …

TIP: The CDC Updates Vaccine Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination recommendation for older adults, recommending a single dose of RSV vaccine to: Additionally, the CDC also recommended the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines and the updated 2024-2025 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu …