Long Term Care Facilities

The Facts

According to the CDC, 1 to 3 million serious infections occur every single year in Long-Term Care Facilities. Infections include urinary tract infections, diarrheal diseases (e.g. C. diff), antibiotic-resistant staph infections (e.g. MRSA) and many others. At the end of the year, according to CDC estimates, this accounts for as many as 380,000 deaths due to infection.

Transmission and Invisimed’s Role

Infection is pervasive in the world we occupy and there is no doubt that the complete eradication of disease is impossible. There are, however, some aspects about disease transmission that are in our control and choosing to do so is the first step. There are three primary sources for infection onset in a long-term care facility: community-onset, LTCF-onset and acute care transfer-onset. The primary focus of our treatments centers on LTCF-onset and ensuring transmission is controlled where possible. Environmental decontamination at this level helps eliminate the high risk of multi-patient contamination once introduced into the facility.

LTCF-Onset

LTCF-onset is infection onset more than 3 days after admission to the facility. More simply, this is an infection contracted while a resident is in the LTCF. Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and diarrheal diseases (C. diff) can be extremely contagious in this type of environment. It is important that proper sanitation and hygiene protocols are followed, and equally important that environmental decontamination is completed with verified results.

How It Works

Invisimed has developed a systematic approach to environmental decontamination.

1. The facility is audited to develop a schedule. Areas are prioritized based upon use, pre-testing data and known issues as identified by facility personnel.

2. An estimate is completed and presented for a comprehensive environmental decontamination solution or, if desired, for a single treatment.

3. A pre-application checklist is delivered to the client.

4. On the day of treatment, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing is completed before the application to benchmark the current state of the facility.

5. Treatment takes place and is generally completed in an hour or less, depending upon the total square footage being treated.

6. For two hours following the treatment, the space is left vacant. (This can be significantly expedited if required, through the use of air scrubbers.)

7. Post-testing is completed anywhere from 2 hours to 4 weeks after the application. This is dependent upon the information each client is looking to obtain. Often testing is completely shortly after application to validate the efficacy of the treatment, as well as several weeks later to test the residual efficacy.

8. A full report is issued to the client within 5 business days, outlining the test results and facility observations.