South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Disease Prevention Services, Healthcare-Associated Infections Program would like to offer COVID-19 Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) to Long Term Care and Assisted Living facilities.
What is an ICAR?
Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) tools are used to systematically assess a healthcare facility’s infection prevention and control (IPC) practices and guide quality improvement activities (e.g., by addressing identified gaps).
Items assessed in the ICAR support the key strategies of:
- Keeping COVID-19 out of the facility
- Identifying infections as early as possible
- Preventing spread of COVID-19 in the facility
- Assessing and optimizing personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies
- Identifying and managing severe illness in residents with COVID-19
Who completes the ICAR?
The ICARs are scheduled and completed by infection prevention experts. They will reach out to your identified contact person to schedule a time that works best for you and complete the ICAR.
What else should I know about the ICAR?
It is non-regulatory: this process is designed to give your facility the chance to identify where there may be gaps in your infection control processes, and provide timely, helpful feedback that can help your facility improve protocols and procedures. Anything that is shared with them is simply for your benefit to improve outcomes in case of future outbreaks.
• It’s free! No cost associated with this opportunity
• Takes about 1.5- 2 hours of your time. In order to get the most out of this assessment, we encourage the facility administrator and infection preventionist or DON to be present and help facilitate the assessment with our team.
Click here to read more about COVID-19 ICARs:
How do we sign our facility up for this opportunity? Please email leah.bomesberger@state.sd.us your facility name and main contact person.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Leah Bomesberger at leah.bomesberger@state.sd.us or Kipp Stahl at kipp.stahl@state.sd.us
