Impact of long-term care facilities’ size on adherence to COVID-19’ infection prevention guidance

• Autor(a) principal: Wachholz, Patrick Alexander [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Melo, Ruth Caldeira de, Jacinto, Alessandro Ferrari, Boas, Paulo José Fortes Villas [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng; por; spa
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.5581.3516; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/240205
• topic: Aged; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Guideline Adherence; Homes for the Aged; Long-Term Care

Objective: to evaluate the adherence of Brazilian long-term care facilities to the World Health Organization Infection Prevention and Control guidance, and assess the association of their size with the adherence to these recommendations. Method: cross-sectional study conducted with facilities’ managers. Authors developed a 20-item questionnaire based on this guidance, and a global score of adherence, based on the adoption of these recommendations. Adherence was classified as (1) excellent for those who attended ≥14 out of 20 recommendations; (2) good for 10 to 13 items; and (3) low for those with less than ten items. Facilities’ sizes were established as small, intermediate, and large according to a two-step cluster analysis. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used at a 5% significance level. Results: among 362 included facilities, 308 (85.1%) adhered to 14 or more recommendations. Regarding its size, adherence to screening COVID-19 symptoms of visitors (p=0.037) and isolating patients until they have had two negative laboratory tests (p=0.032) were lower on larger ones compared to medium and small facilities. Conclusion: adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures in Brazilian facilities was considered excellent for most of the recommendations, regardless of the size of the units.