Dutch guideline for preventing nosocomial transmission of highly-resistant micro-organisms (HRMO) in long-term care facilities (LTCFs)

The objective was to adapt the Guideline for prevention of transmission of HRMO in hospitals to LTCFs with a strong accent on living conditions and social interactions.Residents of LTCFs may be carriers of HRMO over a long period of time and most of the residents of the LTCF stay for extended periods of time. To respect individual living circumstances and to prevent unnecessary limitations in the social life of the residents due to the use of isolation measures, the WIP has chosen to describe infection control precautions per individual micro-organism instead of a ‘one size fits all’ method. The term “isolation” was therefore replaced by the term “additional” precautions. This guideline describes the screening policies for residents in LTCFs, definition and detection of HRMO carriage, standard and additional infection control precautions for HRMO positive residents, documentation and communication of HRMO carriage and discontinuation of additional infection control precautions. It also describes contact tracing of HRMO, environmental control/investigation, surveillance of HRMO and what is important when there is an outbreak.
Source: Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research