“After only one or two sessions, I was hooked. I didn’t want to miss a single session because of what I was learning, the support I was receiving, and the relationships I was building.” -- Jane Davis, nursing home administrator, Yakima, WA in a guest column from Provider Magazine.
Project ECHO, in partnership with the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), has launched a new, virtual peer learning community to help nursing homes with COVID-19 preparedness, safety, and infection control.
More than 8,500 nursing homes have already signed up for this virtual community of practice.
The weekly training sessions are facilitated by small multidisciplinary teams of subject-matter and quality-improvement experts. Our program employs case-based learning, mentoring and peer-to-peer sharing of best practices.
We'll cover multiple topics over 16 virtual sessions, including:
- Vaccine Distribution
- Personal Protective Equipment Best Practices for COVID-19
- Making the Environment Safe during COVID-19 through infection control practices
- Minimizing the Spread of COVID-19
- COVID-19 Testing
- Clinical Management of Asymptomatic and Mild Cases of COVID-19
- Managing Social Isolation during COVID-19
The goals of the voluntary, collaborative and no-cost program include:
- Keeping the virus from entering nursing homes where it has not entered
- Identifying residents and staff who have been infected early
- Preventing the spread of the virus between staff, residents, and visitors
- Providing safe and appropriate care to residents with mild and asymptomatic cases
- Ensuring staff have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to implement best-practice safety measures to protect residents and themselves
- Reducing social isolation for residents, families, and staff during these difficult times
Each training program will evolve to meet the needs of the local nursing home community and the curriculum will be updated weekly to reflect new updates.
Both Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes are eligible to participate and receive a $6,000 stipend in recognition of staff time involved.
Enroll by 2/28/2021
https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/institute-programs/nursing-home/pages/nursing-home-info.html.