COVID-19 Guidance for HomeCare
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) recognizes the need for COVID-19 infection prevention guidance to help home care, home health, and hospice agencies that provide care to clients/patients in their homes. This work includes helping people around the house, helping them with personal care, and providing clinical care. The risk for severe illness with COVID-19 increases with age, with older adults at highest risk. It is important that you help your staff take precautions to protect their clients and themselves at this time.
Before going to the home of a client
• Explore remote ways of providing or preparing to provide care, such as:
o Telehealth and electronic charts.
o Plan important care services by phone video chat or on a webinar.
• Identify and prepare for times when staff might come into direct contact with the client:
o Providing medication, meal prep in the home, cleaning, laundry, or other times where there is direct patient or item contact in the home
• Limit staff on hand to provide only essential care needs at this time.
• Ask all patients and other household members to wear a mask while the staff member is in the home.
• Screen patients and household members for symptoms and possible exposures to COVID-19 prior to entering the home.
For In-Home Clients/Patients with Known or Possible COVID-19
• Set them up in a separate bedroom with a separate bathroom away from others if possible.
• Ensure that all people in the home have personal protective equipment to use (at least gloves and facemask) and use healthy habits, such as covering their coughs and sneezes, throwing used tissues away, and washing their hands often.
• Make sure that pets in the home are cared for by others.
Discharge Planning
• At discharge, give medical information about communicable diseases, advanced directives and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) to other service staff.
• If caring for clients/patients with COVID-19, you must share infection status with the receiving service provider and transport staff before the discharge/transfer. This aligns with Medicare’s Discharge Planning Requirements.
Protecting Staff and Patients
• Train staff on standard, contact, and droplet precautions.
• Provide staff with the following personal protective equipment (PPE) and provide training for proper use:
• Facemask (surgical mask with ear loops or mask with ties)
• Eye protection (for example, goggles or disposable face shield that covers front and sides of face)
• Gown
• Clean, nonsterile gloves
• Healthcare providers should wear a surgical face mask and eye protection, according to Secretary of Health Order and CDC Guidance.
• CDC’s Optimizing the Use of PPE provides guidance on actions to take when PPE is in short supply or you do not have PPE. Using crisis measures is not ideal and could put health care providers at risk for disease.
o Prioritize gowns for use during activities that produce splashes and sprays and during high- contact patient care activities.
o Prioritize eye protection for use during activities that produce splashes and sprays and during activities where prolonged face-to-face or close contact.
• As possible, staff should take off PPE outside of the home. Once outside, they should use 60 alcohol-based hand sanitizer, take off face mask and throw away PPE in trash outside before they leave, and then clean their hands again.
• Have the fewest amount of people present during aerosol-generating work (such as open suctioning of airways, nebulizer treatments, etc.) and use a higher level of protection: N95 respirator or higher, gown, gloves, and eye protection.
Comments
Post a Comment