2018 LTCF Email Updates
February 9, 2018
NHSN Long-term Care Facility Annual Survey Presentation is Here!
Greetings!
Thank you to those who were able to join us on Tuesday, January 30th, 2018 for the educational webinar in which we reviewed tips for completing the NHSN Annual Facility Survey for Long-term Care Facilities.
Some things covered included the March 1st deadline to complete the survey; a new Facility Water Management and Monitoring program section; resident short-stay and long-stay calculations; strategies and resources to assist with completing the survey; primary and uncommon testing methods for C.difficile.
Presentation slides from the webinar can be found on the NHSN Long-term Care Facility Training website, located here. The audio recording will be posted at a later date. Stay tuned!
The NHSN Long Term Care Team
January 31, 2018
NHSN Long-term Care Facility Component Reconsent Required
Greetings LTCF NHSN Users
As you may know from previous communications, NHSN has recently revised the Agreement to Participate and Consent form. To maintain facility participation in NHSN, the NHSN Facility Administrator or NHSN Primary Contact must read and electronically sign the newly revised Agreement to Participate and Consent form by June 15, 2018. The form can be accessed from the alerts screen and the facility information page.
For more information about the new Agreement to Participate and Consent, Please refer to the FAQ document below.
If you have questions about the re-consent process, please contact us at nhsn@cdc.gov and include “re-consent” in the subject line.
Sincerely,
LTCF Team
January 5, 2018
January 2018 NHSN Updates for Long-term Care Facility Component Users
Dear NHSN Long-term Care Facility Users:
Happy New Year from the NHSN Team! We want to thank you for your continued dedication to surveillance, prevention, and control of healthcare-associated infections. Our nation’s residents and patients are safer for your diligence and for that, you can be proud. As the New Year begins, we have a few NHSN updates and reminders to share.
Surveillance Protocols: The NHSN LTCF website has been updated with 2018 versions of surveillance protocols. The protocols are accessible under each surveillance module on the LTCF home page. These protocols are to be used beginning January 1, 2018. For a summary of significant modifications, please access the following link. While the updated table of instructions have been posted, the paper forms are pending. We expect the 2018 forms will be posted to the website by January 12th, 2018.
Annual Facility Survey: It’s that time of the year again! The 2017 annual facility survey is now available in the NHSN application. The survey can be easily accessed on your NHSN home page under “Action Items”. Keep in mind, the survey must be completed by March 1st to avoid interruption in NHSN access. A paper version of the new survey (for data collection purposes only) is expected to be posted to the website by January 12th, 2018. The updated table of instructions can be found under the ‘Data Collection Forms’ tab of the LTCF Event homepage, and by clicking the below hyperlink. Completed surveys may be viewed, edited, and printed in the NHSN application by clicking ‘Surveys’ and ‘Find’ on the navigation panel in NHSN.
Annual Facility Survey Table of Instructions
Educational Webinar: Please plan to join us online for an educational webinar in which we will review the steps for completing the NHSN Annual Survey for Long-term Care Facilities. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 2:30 PM EST. See below for online registration information.
Date & Time:
Tue, Jan 30, 2018, 2:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
Meeting Type:
Web & Audio
Audio Details:
Dial-In Number(s):
U.S. Toll: 303.248.0285
Access Code: 6393927
NHSN Re-consent: The updated NHSN Agreement to Participate and Consent for current NHSN facility users who enrolled in NHSN prior to December 2, 2017 will be available in late January. Facilities that enrolled in NHSN on or after December 2, 2017, have already accessed this new Consent and will not need to accept it again if they have already done so. The NHSN assigned Facility Administrator or Primary Contact should agree to this updated Consent form for each component by April 14th, 2018 to avoid losing access to NHSN. Once the Consent form is available on January 23rd, an alert will appear on all NHSN component home pages, and NHSN primary contacts and facility administrators will receive an email notification. Additional information, including Frequently Asked Questions and the updated NHSN purposes. If you have any questions, please send an email to NHSN@cdc.gov with the subject line “NHSN Reconsent.”
Questions Regarding the Long-term Care Facility Component: Please send all questions regarding the LTCF Component to nhsn@cdc.gov and include ‘LTCF’ in the subject line for fastest response.
As always, thank you for doing what you do, to ensure the safety of your residents. We look forward to continuing our work with you.
The NHSN LTCF Team
