Infection Preventionists in Long-Term Care

As many of us working in post-acute and long-term care know, the risk of infections in our communities is high. A frail resident population with weakened immune systems and multimorbidity, shared living spaces and close proximity of staff and residents, the potential for nonadherence to hand washing and barrier precautions, frequent care transitions that increase the risk of exposure, and antibiotic resistance all contribute to a perfect storm of risk. Eighty-two percent of nursing homes that were surveyed between 2013 and 2017 received at least one deficiency citation for infection prevention and control (U.S.