Rev Esp Quimioter 2023; 36(4): 346-379

Infection control in long term care institutions for the elderly: A reflection document on the situation in Spain

EMILIO BOUZA, JOSÉ AUGUSTO GARCÍA NAVARRO, SERGIO ALONSO, JUAN CARLOS DURAN ALONSO, CARINA ESCOBAR, BENITO J. FONTECHA GÓMEZ , MARÍA ISABEL GALVÁ BORRÁS, AMÓS JOSÉ GARCÍA ROJAS, FRANCISCO JAVIER GÓMEZ PAVÓN, DIEGO GRACIA, JOSÉ GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, MARTHA KESTLER, FERNANDO MARTÍNEZ CUERVO, FRANCISCO JAVIER MARTÍN SÁNCHEZ, CARLOS MELERO, ROSARIO MENÉNDEZ VILLANUEVA, PATRICIA MUÑOZ, ESTEBAN PALOMO, JUAN MANUEL PÉREZ-CASTEJÓN GARROTE, JOSÉ ANTONIO SERRA REXACH, SEBASTIÁN JOSÉ SANTAEUGENIA, FRANCISCO JOSÉ TARAZONA SANTABALBINA, MARÍA TERESA VIDÁN ASTIZ

Published: 29 March 2023

http://www.doi.org/10.37201/req/002.2023

A progressively increasing percentage of the elderly live during the last years of their lives in nursing homes. Although these institutions are intended to mimic life at home as much as possible, they have characteristics that make them quite similar to a “nosocomiun”, i.e. an establishment for the treatment of the sick. The very coexistence among the elderly, the fact of sharing caregivers and the very significant exposure to third parties, together with the frequent predisposing diseases to infection in this population, make infection frequent among residents and also easily transmissible. This leads us to ask what can be done to prevent infection in this environment and more specifically what is the state of the art of the matter in a Western European nation such as ours. The Board of Trustees of the Health Sciences Foundation has asked itself a series of questions on the subject of infection prevention in Nursing Homes, the structure of procedures, the legislation available, compliance with the measures indicated, the best indicators of the processes and therefore, the need to promote in Spain a document of recommendations to avoid infections in this poplation whose morbidity and mortality need not be highlighted. To this end, a multidisciplinary group of experts in different aspects of this problem has been convened and asked the proposed questions. The questions were discussed by the group as a whole and led to a series of conclusions agreed upon by the participants. The results of the meeting are reported below.

Rev Esp Quimioter 2023; 36(4): 346-379 [Full-text PDF]