Acute Communicable
Disease Control

 
Contact Information
County of Los Angeles
Department of Public Health
Acute Communicable Disease Control
313 N. Figueroa Street, #212
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 240-7941
Fax: (213) 482-4856
Email:acdc2@ph.lacounty.gov
Acute Communicable Disease Control

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Page updated on 8-14-24
As a supplement to LAC DPH's Prevention of COVID-19 Transmission in Skilled Nursing Facilities Health Officer Order, this document is a resource for skilled nursing facilities (SNF) to build the appropriate infection prevention and control (IPC) training program at hire, annually, and as needed for all staff including their Infection Preventionist (IP). Important to developing effective IPC programs for your staff are the following recommendations:
  • Each facility should complete an Infection Control Risk Assessment Prioritization annually to understand their facility's unique education and resource needs, and use the results of this assessment to inform any changes to their IPC training programs.
  • Document staff training including the course completed, date completed, and reason for completion (e.g., at hire, annual, as needed).
  • Consider staff's educational needs when building their IPC trainings (e.g., passive learning with videos, online modules, etc. versus active learning via teach-back method).
  • Provide education in relevant languages.
  • Include targeted training above the minimum requirements when appropriate (e.g., food-borne illness training for dietary/kitchen staff; central line-associated blood stream infection [CLABSI] and/or catheter-associated urinary tract infection [CAUTI] training for licensed nurses especially in SNFs with subacute/ventilator units).
 
Basic infection prevention education training for non-IP staff should include the domains below. Facilities may mix-and-match modules from different educational resources to form the most appropriate IPC training for each type of staff, e.g., certified nursing assistants, housekeeping, dietary, administrative, etc., while ensuring that the domains below are included:
  • Hand Hygiene
  • Standard precautions (including Personal Protective Equipment)
  • Transmission-based precautions (including Personal Protective Equipment)
  • Environmental Cleaning and disinfection
  • Respiratory Hygiene, Cough Etiquette and Source Control
  • Injection Safety and Point of Care Testing*
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship*

*Applicable to licensed nursing and/or clinical provider staff.  

 
For infection prevention and control training requirements for the SNF IP role, please see CDPH AFL 20-84 and/or LAC DPH's Building an Infection Prevention Program Information for the Facility (step 2).
 
This is relevant to certain roles and departments e.g., nurses, pharmacists, and clinical prescribers.
 
Table 1 - Recommended for the SNF Infection Preventionist (IP)
Educational Resource Training Type Audience Link Duration Cost
CDC Train Nursing Home Modules
  • At hire
  • Annual
  • As needed
  • Infection Preventionist
  • All Staff (excluding IP)*
Train Learning Network
For more information see CDC Infection Prevention Training Guidance for LTCFs.
19 hours Free
CDPH HAI Program Infection Preventionist Training for Skilled Nursing Facilities Online Course

  • At hire
  • Annual
  • As needed
  • Infection Preventionist
  • All staff (excluding IP)*
CDPH HAI Program Course Landing Page 18 hours Free
APIC Long-Term Care 101 modules
  • At hire
  • Annual
  • As needed
  • Infection Preventionist
  • All staff (excluding IP)*
(APIC) Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology Self-paced Price Varies
AHCA Infection Preventionist Specialized Training (IPCO)  
  • At hire
  • Annual
  • As needed
 
  • Infection Preventionist
California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF) IPCO   Self-paced, up to 12 months to complete  $450 for AHCA/NCAL members $650 for non-members  
*Facilities may still offer these trainings, or components of these trainings, to non-IP staff but the training resources listed in table 2 is likely more catered to non-IP staff.
 
Table 2 - Recommended for all other SNF staff besides the IP (e.g., licensed nurses, certified nursing assistants, rehabilitation including Physical therapists/Occupational therapists/Speech and language therapists, housekeeping/environmental services including laundry, activities, social work, administration, facility engineers, etc.)
Educational Resource Training Type Audience Link Duration Cost
CMS Targeted COVID-19 Training for Frontline Nursing Home Staff
  • As needed
  • All Staff (excluding IP)
Quality, Safety, & Education Portal (QSEP) 3 hours Free
CMS Targeted COVID-19 Training for Nursing Home Management
  • As needed
  • All Staff (excluding IP)
Quality, Safety, & Education Portal (QSEP) 4.5 hours Free
Oregon Patient Safety Commission (available in Spanish)
  • At hire
  • Annual
  • Target housekeeping/environmental services staff including laundry
  • For staff other than housekeeping/environmental services, training should be supplemented with modules from other educational resources
English: Infection Prevention Education video
Spanish: Infection Prevention Education video
Self-paced Free
CDC Strive
  • At hire
  • Annual
  • All Staff (excluding IP)
Competency based Training, Audits and Feedback Course WB4220 Self-paced Free
CDC Project Firstline
  • As needed
  • All Staff
Project Firstline Facilitator Toolkit Self-paced Free
CDC Project Firstline Courses
  • At hire
  • Annual
  • CNA Staff
Project Firstline Varies Free
 
Staff Training and Education (presentations and videos)
Use the following materials to train and educate staff on core infection prevention practices of hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and disinfection, and use of personal protective equipment (PPE). 
Presentations
 
Reminders in the Workplace (posters, flyers)
 
Transmission Based Precautions Posters
  • LAC DPH Acute Communicable Disease Control Program Transmission Based Precautions signage is located in section 3 of the Main SNF webpage. Follow this link for the SNF Main Page.
 
Evaluation and Feedback (Adherence Monitoring) 
Regular monitoring with feedback of results to staff can maintain or improve adherence to hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and education, and contact precautions practices. Use the following tools to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
 
The content on this webpage is adapted from the CDPH Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Program vSNF Workgroup to Prevent MDRO.

Additional Resources

 


 
 
 
Public Health has made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translation. However, no computerized translation is perfect and is not intended to replace traditional translation methods. If questions arise concerning the accuracy of the information, please refer to the English edition of the website, which is the official version.
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