Infection control in Queensland long-term care facilities

Abstract

In July 2000 a statewide infection control survey was mailed out to 483 long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in Queensland, Australia. The survey aimed to identify the presence and composition of infection control programmes in LTCFs and to investigate their relationship to the process elements of infection control programmes. A response rate of 43 per cent (n = 206) was achieved. The survey found that almost all LTCFs (97 per cent) had an infection control programme in place. A majority (70 per cent) had an infection control committee or another committee with responsibility for infection control. The time allocated to infection control was only 1-2 hours per week in the majority (56 per cent) of facilities, and there was no correlation between this time allocation and bed numbers. Almost all (99 per cent) facilities provided infection control education to their staff. Most facilities conducted surveillance for urinary tract infection, respiratory tract infection or wound and skin infection. Surveillance data was used for staff feedback, education and/or accreditation in 95 per cent of facilities. Further investigation is warranted in order to identify the amount of time required to fulfil infection control responsibilities in LTCFs. This study also suggests that minimum standard definitions for surveillance are required for the LTCF in order to facilitate data collection and analysis, benchmarking ability and possible aggregation of information.