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Hi ACIPC Colleagues
I’m working with our IPC Committee to review our Infection Alert System in RAC.
e.g if a consumer is MRSA positive how do you notify Hospitality, Maintenance, Lifestyle, Volunteers and Clinical Staff of the required IPC precautions .
I would love to hear how other RACFs are managing this process.Do you send Infection alerts electronically via your Clinical System software to notify all staff?
Do you use an Infection Alert Form to notify all staff?
Are IPC Leads managing and monitoring alerts and closing off?Thanks very much
Catherine McGovernHi Catherine,
I can only speak from working in previous organisations.
We had an alert system that came up when first opening the residents electronic file, was quite bold and needed to be closed to move on. All required alerts presented like this – falls risk, cytotoxic treatment etc.
Note: Electronic alerts were only put into place for MRO infections, and these remained whether the infection was active or colonized- i.e. they were never closed off. For active MRO infections, management and precautions were addressed in the infection report. If colonised, then a risk assessment was in place to identify future potential risk of active infection with this MRO, directions as to what to watch, as well as immediate management and precaution measures to implement should active infection present.
Once an electronic infection (of any kind) report had been established, alerts were set within the system for RN follow up – this included infection management, signs and symptoms and antimicrobial review – usually 24hr.
In regard to all other infections, alerts were made through clinical hand overs – both verbal and written for clinical staff. A daily infection alert form was provided to kitchen, laundry, maintenance, cleaning, admin, allied health etc. These forms were provided to teams in the facility morning huddle where there was representation from all areas – form was usually collaborated by the clinical lead or IPC lead or RN in charge. This system was consistent and well known through outbreaks.
Re: The IPC Lead the scope of their role was facility determined – but the expectation of infection management and resident cases oversight, was certainly there.
Hope that is a little helpful
Kind regards Carrie
ACIPC
ACIPC IPC Consultant
HobartHi Catherine,
My work was for a public health service (with 3 x 100 bed RACHs) and notification extended across the service via resident erecord, health service erecord (pathology, acute care notes), client administration notes, and hard copy kept in resident notes at the facility.
The onus is on nursing staff to check the alerts, on saying that the IPCC visits regularly and checks resident, staff and visitors understand measures in place.
Generally, standard transmission based precautions are sufficient for most MROs and even CPO with measures in place if the resident has incontinence or diarrhoea for GI MROs. CPOs have additional transmission measures and I have initiated a MRO specific care plan for individuals living with CPE in a care plan specific to each staff group e.g. what this means for the cleaner, nurse etc.
Additional transmission based cleaning is communicated via a daily cleaning list sent to the environmental manager and a discreet IPC sign (4 x 4cm clean hands sign) on the residents door.
As with Carrie, the daily handover form includes any MRO the resident is infected or colonised with.
The documentation in the resident erecord includes a care plan for the specific MRO. This MRO is closed off per the Australasian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare (2019) https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-guidelines-prevention-and-control-infection-healthcare-2019.
The infection prevention services for the organisation usually manage the alerts across the organisation. The IPC leads manage the resident erecord.Kind regards
Penny Radalj
IPCC and AC Lead
Barwon South West PHU
Vistoria
