scholarly journals Lessons from Mass-Testing for COVID-19 in Long Term Care Facilities for the Elderly in San Francisco

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice K Louie ◽  
Hyman M Scott ◽  
Amie DuBois ◽  
Natalya Sturtz ◽  
Wendy Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Asymptomatic Infections ◽  
Significant Mortality

Abstract COVID-19 can cause significant mortality in the elderly in Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF). We describe four LTCF outbreaks where mass testing identified a high proportion of asymptomatic infections (4-41% in health care workers and 20-75% in residents), indicating that symptom-based screening alone is insufficient for monitoring for COVID-19 transmission.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting Mistreatment of the Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities

Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 224
Author(s):  
Jeongmi Lim
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Community Support ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
And Coping

In long-term care facilities, elderly mistreatment occurs routinely and frequently. However, few studies have empirically explored the multifaceted risk factor of mistreatment. The purpose of this paper was to explore the factors affecting elderly mistreatment by care workers in Japanese long-term care facilities and to examine the relationship between these factors and mistreatment. This analysis was based on a sample of 1473 care workers from long-term care facilities and used multiple regression analyses. The results revealed that the nursing care level, work period, resilience, and attitude towards mistreatment among residents and staff were factors significantly associated with the degree of mistreatment. Facility size, an institutional environment that does not limit the behavior of residents, and family and community support for the elderly were among the institutional environment factors that had significant relationships with mistreatment. Staff gender, care-related qualifications, and workload were not associated with mistreatment. These findings suggest that strengthening the staff’s attitude and coping skills to prevent mistreatment, as well as interventions for changes in the institutional environment, are needed to prevent and reduce the prevalence of mistreatment in Japan. In addition, raising staff resilience to stress situations and building a resident-centered facility care environment is an important measure to reduce mistreatment.

scholarly journals COVIDApp as an Innovative Strategy for the Management and Follow-Up of COVID-19 Cases in Long-Term Care Facilities in Catalonia: Implementation Study

10.2196/21163 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. e21163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Echeverría ◽  
Miquel Angel Mas Bergas ◽  
Jordi Puig ◽  
Mar Isnard ◽  
Mireia Massot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Facilities

Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented worldwide public health crisis that requires new management approaches. COVIDApp is a mobile app that was adapted for the management of institutionalized individuals in long-term care facilities. Objective The aim of this paper is to report the implementation of this innovative tool for the management of long-term care facility residents as a high-risk population, specifically for early identification and self-isolation of suspected cases, remote monitoring of mild cases, and real-time monitoring of the progression of the infection. Methods COVIDApp was implemented in 196 care centers in collaboration with 64 primary care teams. The following parameters of COVID-19 were reported daily: signs/symptoms; diagnosis by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction; absence of symptoms for ≥14 days; total deaths; and number of health care workers isolated with suspected COVID-19. The number of at-risk centers was also described. Results Data were recorded from 10,347 institutionalized individuals and up to 4000 health care workers between April 1 and 30, 2020. A rapid increase in suspected cases was seen until day 6 but decreased during the last two weeks (from 1084 to 282 cases). The number of confirmed cases increased from 419 (day 6) to 1293 (day 22) and remained stable during the last week. Of the 10,347 institutionalized individuals, 5,090 (49,2%) remained asymptomatic for ≥14 days. A total of 854/10,347 deaths (8.3%) were reported; 383 of these deaths (44.8%) were suspected/confirmed cases. The number of isolated health care workers remained high over the 30 days, while the number of suspected cases decreased during the last 2 weeks. The number of high-risk long-term care facilities decreased from 19/196 (9.5%) to 3/196 (1.5%). Conclusions COVIDApp can help clinicians rapidly detect and remotely monitor suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 among institutionalized individuals, thus limiting the risk of spreading the virus. The platform shows the progression of infection in real time and can aid in designing new monitoring strategies.

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