March 2019 LTCF Newsletter

March 2019 Newsletter – Print version [PDF – 1 MB]

2019 NHSN LTCF Component Training

Plan to join us July 9-11, 2019 for the 2019 National Healthcare Safety Network’s (NHSN) Annual Training for Long-term Care Facilities (LTCF). The training will be held on the CDC campus in Atlanta, Georgia and will cover various topics such as antibiotic stewardship, data analysis, and surveillance for urinary tract infections, C. difficile, and multi-drug resistant organisms. The training is open to current NHSN LTCF users, as well as facilities interested in enrolling in NHSN. We are excited to have the NHSN user support team join us during the week to assist users with onsite enrollment, updating CCNs, adding and deactivating users, and other application questions and hands-on troubleshooting. We hope to see you there!

NEW THIS YEAR

SAMS staff will be available onsite to assist with SAMS registration, identity proofing, and grid card issuance. This will be a great opportunity for new LTCF staff to receive personal assistance and quickly receive a SAMS grid card for NHSN access. Stay tuned for more information, including webinars to assist with pre-SAMS preparation.

Please email NHSNtrain@cdc.gov with training related questions

The 2018 Annual Facility Survey is Due

The deadline for submitting the 2018 Annual Facility Survey was March 1, 2019. After this date, users will be unable to submit monthly reporting plans and event data to NHSN until the survey is submitted. As a reminder, the survey must be submitted in the NHSN application. Do not mail, fax, or e-mail the paper form to NHSN. The form is only meant to serve as guidance for collecting the required information. If you have not submitted your survey, please do so now. For additional information, including steps for completing the survey, please review the 2019 Long-term Care Facility Component Annual Updates and Annual Facility Survey Review training slides [PDF – 3 MB] on the NHSN LTCF Training page.

Steps for Submitting the 2018 LTCF Annual Facility Survey

1. To complete the survey login to NHSN (sams.cdc.gov) and click on NHSN Reporting.
   
   
2. On the NHSN landing page, select the LTCF component and your facility and click submit.
   
   
3. After clicking submit, the NHSN main page will populate with action items that need to be resolved. Click on the 2018 survey to open and complete it. Remember, you will not be able to save your work in progress, therefore, all required data must be entered before the survey can be submitted.
   
   

NHSN LTCF Enrollment Guide

The 5-Step Enrollment for LTCF webpage has been updated to include a revised LTCF Enrollment Training Guide [PDF – 6 MB]. This single resource will serve as the sole training requirement for NHSN Enrollment, and will introduce participants to NHSN reporting into the LTCF Component, as well as detailed steps and tips for successfully enrolling a LTCF into NHSN. The new resource can be found on the  Enrollment for Long-term Care Facilities Home Page.

Nursing Home Infection Preventionist Training Course is Now Available!!

CDC is pleased to announce the release of the Nursing Home Infection Preventionist Training Course, a comprehensive, free, online training for staff responsible for infection prevention and control programs. The course, developed in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), provides an overview of the core activities of an infection prevention and control (IPC) program and the recommended practices to reduce the spread of pathogens, healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance in nursing homes. The release of this training course is designed to help facilities provide staff with the required specialized infection prevention and control training as it relates to the phased implementation of CMS Requirements for Participation for Nursing Homes.

The course is made up of 23 modules and sub-modules which can be taken in any order and over multiple sessions. There will be almost 20 hours of free continuing education available upon completion of the entire course and the post-course exam. The course is hosted on the CDC TRAIN learning network and can be accessed here. Partners interested in promoting the course can obtain web-buttons for posting and additional information about the course here.

NHSN LTCF Interactive Infection Dashboard

The NHSN LTCF team is excited about the future release of an interactive dashboard that allows users to quickly view submitted data upon NHSN login. The dashboard enables users to manipulate graphs and tables and review infection prevention process measure data during specific reporting time periods. These graphs and tables are printable and ready to share during your infection prevention and control committee meetings. Prior to releasing the dashboard, we will have a beta-testing period to test functionality and better understand how users interact with the dashboard to determine if they perceive the tool to be helpful and user-friendly. This information will enable our team to make necessary adjustments prior to releasing the dashboard to all NHSN users.

If you have access to NHSN and are interested in beta-testing, please email NHSNbeta@cdc.gov with the subject line LTCF Dashboard Beta-Tester. Recruitment will end March 25th. The anticipated dashboard beta testing period will occur during April 27th – May 13th, and include participation in a focus group call on May 23 or May 29. Please note: any facility that is interested must already have access to NHSN.

Upcoming LTCF Presentations

Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) IP Boot Camp Educational Program for LTCFs (Marietta, GA)

• March 19, 2019: CDC LTC ICAR activity

AHCA Quality Summit (Tampa, FL)

• March 19, 2019: Building a Culture of Safety and Infection Prevention: Exploring Gaps and Opportunities

2019 APIC Conference (Philadelphia, PA):

• June 13 (Session 2405) : Importance of Infection Surveillance in Long-Term Care Facilities
• June 13 (Session 2107) : Opportunities to Strengthen IPC practices in Nursing Homes: Findings from a CMS Infection Control Survey Pilot
• June 14 (Session 3009): Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Tools/ICAR: Acute Care and Long Term Care

Georgia Healthcare Association Sponsors an Infection Prevention Boot Camp for LTC

In February & March 2019, the GHA sponsored a two-day training titled GHA Department of Public Health Infection Prevention Boot Camp for Long Term Care. Ti McCray, MPH, a CDC Epidemiologist/Infection Prevention Consultant on the LTC team gave a presentation on Prevention Process Measures. Some of the other topics  covered by presenters included  the regulatory climate impacting long term care infection control programs; antimicrobial stewardship; environmental cleaning in LTC; and preventing & managing outbreaks and notifiable disease/condition reporting.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) is a nonprofit trade association made up of member health systems, hospitals and individuals in administrative and decision-making positions within those institutions. Founded in 1929, GHA serves 173 hospitals in Georgia. Its purpose is to promote the health and welfare of the public through the development of better hospital care for all of Georgia’s citizens. GHA members are committed to improving institutional health care services and, in turn, patient care. The association provides information and education on issues ranging from access to health care and clinical care updates, to effective hospital management and compliance with high-level accreditation standards.

Share Your Stories

We would love for you to share your stories about what’s happening in the field of healthcare and long-term care resident safety. Do you have any success stories relating to science or research in the works? If you’ve been a part of a successful program or initiative that has helped nursing homes improve infection prevention, healthcare quality or surveillance, then we want to hear from you! For more information or questions, please email nhsn@cdc.gov and include “LTCF stories” in the subject line.

We’d Love to Hear From You…

• Is your organization struggling with promoting the benefits of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and surveillance reporting?
• Does your infection prevention staff need training and technical assistance on the NHSN Long-term Care Facility Protocols?
• Are there any topics you would like for us to host a webinar on?
• Do you know how to view, print, interpret, and discuss your NHSN data reports?
• Do you have ideas for data reports you’d like to see available in NHSN?
• Has your LTC facility been successful in reporting data to NHSN?
• How have you used NHSN in your prevention efforts?
• How can we help you to put your data into action?

We can do more together! Help us create opportunities for learning and exchanging Best Practices. Submit your requests and comments to nhsn@cdc.gov and include “LTCF Technical assistance” in the subject line of the email.