IMPORTANT NOTICE
At the request of Dan Rusyniak, MD and Chief Medical Officer at Indiana FSSA
All LTC facilities need to use this CDC check list to prevent the spread -
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Preparedness Checklist for Nursing Homes and other Long-Term Care Settings
HERE
All LTC facilities should
use this sheet
to track their infection control activities and to track employees and patients with respiratory illness.
All LTC facilities should have a plan to rapidly implement, or implement now, how they will cohort confirmed or presumed covid-19 patients in their facility. This can be by wing, floor, or if available, by building(s). This should be done with expediency. See this from CMS
QSO.
All LTC facilities should limit patient contact to only essential direct care providers (Nurse, CNA, QMA, Hospice, EMS etc),
Notice
Once you have access to EMResources, every facility needs to update their status daily. This information is critically important for tracking PPE needs.
All LTC facilities should require those involved in direct patient care to wear a mask during their entire shift.
Mitigation Strategies
a. If national and local supplies are at conventional capacity, then all staff in LTC facilities should wear a facemask per standard recommendations.
b. If national and local supplies are at contingency levels, only direct care staff should wear a mask and they should use one mask per shift.
c. If national and local supplies are scarce <1 week supply, then only direct care staff should wear a mask and they should use the same mask for multiple days
d. If national and local supplies are at crisis capacity, then direct patient care staff should wear a mask if available. If masks are not available, they should use alternative methods to cover their mouth and nose and decrease respiratory droplet spread.
All LTC facilities need to have updated lists of all residents’ code status. Plans should be in place for how to provide hospice and comfort care to those patients with DNR orders who develop COVID-19.
ISDH has a team available to come into facilities to rapidly test residents and staff who are suspected of having COVID-19. If your facilities have patients or providers who are symptomatic and need to be tested, please contact COVID-19 Outbreak Response Logistics Coordinator Tami Johnson at 317-412-2127 or
tamjohnson@isdh.in.gov
to schedule testing at your facility.
If you would like to discuss the need for testing at your facility or COVID-19 prevention such as PPE donning and doffing, please contact Casey Cummins, COVID-19 Outbreak Response Chief Nurse Consultant, at 317.954.2591 or
ccummins@isdh.in.gov
.
