Explore the Education Catalog

Through webinars, Insight Panels, self-study courses, certification preparation, instructor-led intensives, and microcredentials, we empower professionals to strengthen expertise, sharpen critical thinking, and advance their impact.

Menu

Menu

Menu

Menu

Menu

Sign In

Sign In Create Free Account

My APIC My Courses

APIC Connect/IP Talk APIC Text AJIC Journal Prevention Strategist Staffing Calculator PolicyPro

Join APIC Today Explore Membership

Join

Membership

Membership Benefits and More

Explore the benefits of APIC Membership, including access to resources and communities for infection preventionists.

Become a Member

Join an ever growing community of IPs today.

Education

Explore the Education Catalog

Through webinars, Insight Panels, self-study courses, certification preparation, instructor-led intensives, and microcredentials, we empower professionals to strengthen expertise, sharpen critical thinking, and advance their impact.

Long-term Care Outpatient Clinics and Surgery Centers Self-paced Webinars

Research

About the CRPI

The APIC Center for Research, Practice, and Innovation (CRPI) is dedicated to creating a clear and concise pathway from evidence generation for best practices to the dissemination of practice guidance and implementation tools.

Learn More

Initiatives, Publications, and more links

Practice Resources

Explore the Resource Library

Your one-stop source for tools intended to complement your practice, including playbooks, guides, toolkits and other resources.

Implementation Guides C. Diff Professional Practice Toolkits

Career Development

Career Development

Find resources to help you take the next steps in your IP career.

New to Your IP Career?

Check out the Infection Preventionist Onboarding Checklist.

Go to the Checklist

Public Policy

Public Policy

APIC Government Affairs staff works with our Public Policy Committee to ensure that legislators and regulators have the best information to help carry out our mission.

APIC Action Center

Our Action Center makes it easy to action send a relevant letter to your legislators in seconds.

Take Action Now

About

About Us

APIC is the nation’s leading association for infection preventionists, advancing science, education, and practice to reduce healthcare-associated infections and improve patient safety.

Learn About our Affiliates

CBIC and APIC Consulting expand the mission of APIC.

Back to Policy Updates

GAO Releases New Study on Outbreaks of COVID-19 in LTC

Post Date: 12/19/2022

GAO Releases New Study on Outbreaks of COVID-19 in LTC

A new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis of CDC and CMS data found that transmission of COVID-19 in the community surrounding a nursing home, known as community spread, had the strongest association with the duration of an outbreak. In the analysis of six nursing homes in four states, the GAO identified a range of outbreak experiences, including critical challenges and some successes. For example, two critical challenges included:

• Staff shortages. Officials from five nursing homes described experiencing staffing shortages during outbreaks. For example, officials from one nursing home described a staffing crisis, noting that at one point the home was down about 25 percent of its workforce.

• Low staff morale. Officials from three nursing homes discussed the psychosocial effect the pandemic had on their staff and the difficulties in maintaining staff morale. For example, officials from one nursing home described how the outbreaks took away the joy of caregiving from staff, and officials believed that many staff were left traumatized.

Read the GAO report.