Assessing severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) preparedness in US community hospitals: A forgotten entity

Abstract

We performed a cross-sectional survey of infection preventionists in 60 US community hospitals between April 22 and May 8, 2020, and found several differences in hospital preparedness for SARS-CoV-2 with respect to personal protective equipment conservation strategies, protocols related to testing, universal masking and restarting elective procedures.

The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response on hospital infection prevention programs and practices in the southeastern United States

“…This improvement could be attributable in part to various conservation strategies used to preserve PPE, use of different brands of PPE, suspension of elective procedures during the surge of cases, and/or improvement in supply chain of PPE over time. 1,7 Our survey is the first to our knowledge to assess the trend of infection prevention practices in a large network of academic and community hospitals in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…The survey (Supplementary Material online) was conducted between April 22 and May 5, 2021, in follow-up to our initial survey from April 2020. 1 Both surveys were distributed electronically to local infection preventionists using Qualtrics software (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). Participation was voluntary, anonymous, and without compensation.…”

“…Early assessments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) preparedness revealed resource shortages, use of crisis capacity strategies, and gradual adoption of universal masking policies in US hospitals. [1][2][3] Our initial survey in spring 2020 highlighted several differences in COVID-19 preparedness with respect to the use of crisis capacity strategies and protocols related to testing, masking, and restarting elective procedures in community hospitals within our network. 1 We performed a 1-year follow-up survey to assess changes to infection prevention policies and resources in our diverse network of community and academic hospitals.…”

Virtual infection prevention—The next frontier

“…Community hospitals are suffering from additional strains on resources due to outbreaks and personnel shortages. 9 Thus, community hospital IPCs can utilize remote strategies for education, surveillance, and feedback. The Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON) has engaged community hospitals for >20 years, leading to decreases in HAIs among participating hospitals through routine on-site visits, education, implementation of best practices, and data collection, review and feedback.…”