MSF provides infection prevention & control resources for work in long-term care facilities

The devastating impact of COVID-19 in nursing homes and other congregate care facilities in the United States has highlighted the long-standing need for increased on-site support to implement infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) responded to this ongoing emergency by providing hands-on IPC training and mental health support for long-term care facility staff in Michigan, Texas, and the Navajo Nation and Pueblos. To expand the reach of these programs, MSF created an educational IPC & Wellness Tool Kit designed to be easily integrated into existing curricula across degree levels in schools of nursing, public health, and social work. This publicly available kit invites students to bring their IPC knowledge to their local communities and to help clinical and non-clinical staff in long-term care facilities stay safe and protected.

The tool kit contains a variety of text and video-based resources on how to enter the facilities, conduct assessments using the CDC Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) tool, carry out training sessions and embed with nursing staff to make improvements, as well as information on how to support the mental health and wellness of frontline staff. Additional materials include a folder with resources for an abridged version of the training program that can be used in adult foster care homes and other congregate living facilities.

The tool kit is available to download here along with a series of instructional videos on how to navigate the resources in the kit and other helpful tips for implementing the training program. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Marina Novack, long-term care project coordinator for MSF-USA: marina.novack@newyork.msf.org