Course Description:

This course covers infection prevention in home care, focusing on additional prevention interventions.

This course provides home care and hospice clinicians with essential knowledge required to understand issues related to infection and infection prevention. Highlighting data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this third course in the Infection Prevention series examines the larger, critical patient care issue of antimicrobial resistance. The role that the home care clinician plays in antimicrobial stewardship is described and demonstrated through a case example. Additional infection prevention activities addressed by home care clinicians include the promotion of pediatric and adult vaccinations and adherence to aseptic technique while performing invasive procedures. The reality is that home care patients do develop infections, sometimes despite all best practices applied. Therefore, the home care clinician must recognize signs and symptoms of infection, including the life-threatening response to infection called sepsis. Patient and family education related to antimicrobial resistance, vaccinations, and recognizing infection and sepsis are integrated throughout this course.