IPC-General

The infection prevention team is a partnership of the Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance (HCQC) and Office of State Epidemiology's Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI). Team members are available for consultations and risk assessment; onsite technical support; outbreak support; and questions about infection prevention and control issues.

Additionally, the HCQC infection control team has also compiled general resources, facility type-specific resources and IPC training for unlicensed caregivers, as linked below. Regarding any of the services listed above, send an email to hcqcipcteam@health.nv.gov.

Contact the HAI team at outbreak@health.nv.gov.

• Residential facilities for groups (assisted living)
• Hospitals
• Skilled nursing facilities
• Unlicensed caregiver training

Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee

Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) is a federal advisory committee appointed to provide advice and guidance to DHHS and CDC regarding the practice of infection control and prevention.

• HICPAC web page

CDC Infection Prevention and Control

This site from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes an overview of how infections spread, ways to prevent the spread of infections, and more detailed recommendations by type of healthcare setting.

• Infection Control in Health Care Facilities
• Infection Control Basics
• Precautions
  • Standard Precautions for All Patient Care
  • Transmission-Based Precautions
  • Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings (2007)
  • Type and Duration of Precautions Recommended for Selected Infections and Conditions – Appendix A

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) Implementation Guides provide practical, evidence-based strategies for surveillance and the elimination of infection. Each guide includes online tools and resources. (To download the free guides, you are required to provide contact information.)

• All APIC Implementation Guides

Hand Hygiene

• AORN - Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
• CDC - Hand Hygiene Guidance
• World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Hand Hygiene Training Tools
  • WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Resources
  • Patient's Guide - Hand hygiene is the #1 way to prevent the spread of infections
• APIC Toolkit for Patient Hand Hygiene

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Centers for Disease Control
  • Sequence for Putting On Personal Protective Equipment
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Coaching and Training Frontline Health Care Professionals
  • Healthcare Respiratory Protection Resources | NPPTL | NIOSH | CDC
• OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  • Fact Sheet - Personal Protective Equipment
  • Instruction - Respiratory Protection Program Guidelines
  • Laws & Regulations – 1910 Subpart I – Personal Protective Equipment
  • Laws & Regulations – 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection
  • Safety and Health Topics – Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety and Health Topics – Respiratory Protection – General Guidance

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)

• Centers for Disease Control
  • Guideline for Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections
  • TAP Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) Implementation Guide: Links to Example Resources
  • Strategies to Prevent Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 Update (SHEA)

Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection

• Central Line-associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) | HAI | CDC
• Strategies to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections in acute-care hospitals: 2022 Update (SHEA)

Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Event (VAE)

• CDC Ventilator-associated Pneumonia (VAP)
• SHEA Strategies to Prevent Infections in Acute Care Hospitals – Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) (SHEA)

Prevention of Surgical Site Infection (SSI)

• Guideline for Prevention of Surgical Site Infection (2017)

Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms

• Targeted Multidrug Resistant Organism Guidance
• CDC Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) Management
• Candida auris
  • About C. auris
  • Candida auris playbook - APIC Emerging Infectious Diseases Task Force
• Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
  • CDC - Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) Healthcare Facilities: Information about CRE
  • Healthcare Facilities: Information about CRE (Includes CDC CRE Toolkit)
  • CDC Guidance for Control of Infections with Carbapenem-Resistant or Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Acute Care Facilities
  • Nevada Healthcare-Associated Infection CRE information
• Clostridiodes difficile Infection
  • CDC C. diff: Facts for Clinicians
  • CDC C. diff Healthcare Resources
  • CDC Strategies to Prevent C. diff Infection in Acute Care Facilities
  • SHEA Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• Nevada Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention, Control and Elimination Program
  • Email Susan McElhany, DMD, Nevada TB Controller
• CDC Mycobacterium Tuberculosis resources
  • Guidelines for Preventing the Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Health-Care Settings, 2005
  • Resources for TB Screening and Testing of Health Care Personnel
  • TB 101 for Health Care Workers
  • Clinical Testing Guidance for Tuberculosis: Health Care Personnel
  • Frequency of Tuberculosis Screening and Testing for Health Care Personnel
  • Baseline Tuberculosis Screening and Testing for Health Care Personnel

Legionella/Legionnaire's Disease (Water Management)

• Centers for Disease Control resources
  • Legionella (Legionnaires' Disease and Pontiac Fever)
  • Healthcare Facility Water Management Program Checklist
  • Toolkit: Developing a Legionella Water Management Program
  • Water Infection Control Risk Assessment (WICRA) for Healthcare Settings
  • About Water Management Programs
  • Requirement to Reduce Legionella Risk in Healthcare Facility Water Systems to Prevent Cases and Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease (LD)

Injection Safety

• Centers for Disease Control resources
  • Injection Safety
  • Safe Injection Checklist for Clinicians
  • Preventing Unsafe Injection Practices
  • Injection Safety Resources for Providers
  • Workbook for Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program

Point-of-Care Testing

• Centers for Disease Control resources
  • CDC Clinical Reminder: Insulin Pens Must Never Be Used for More than One Person

Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection

• APIC Non-Critical Is Critical - Strategies to Mitigate Cross Contamination of Non-critical Medical Devices
• Centers for Disease Control
  • Infection Control – Disinfection and Sterilization Guideline
  • Infection Control – Environmental Infection Control Guidelines
  • Environmental Infection Control Guidelines – Summary of Recommendations
  • Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning in Healthcare Facilities

Device Reprocessing

• • CDC Essential Elements of a Reprocessing Program for Flexible Endoscopes – Recommendations of the HICPAC
  • CDC Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities, 2008 (Update: June 2024)
  • CDC Infection Control – Disinfection and Sterilization Guideline

Construction Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA)

• Using the Health Care Physical Environment to Prevent and Control Infection
  • A project by The Health Research & Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association, American Society for Health Care Engineering, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Society of Hospital Medicine and the University of Michigan
• Infection Control Risk Assessment 2.0 (ICRA 2.0)

General vaccine and immunization resources

• Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP): ACIP Recommendations
• Centers for Disease Control resources
  • Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine – Preventable Diseases
  • Influenza Vaccination of Health-Care Personnel
  • Vaccine and Immunization Schedules

Educational opportunities

• Centers for Disease Control
  • Infection Control Training
  • CDC/STRIVE Infection Control
  • Project Firstline Infection Control Training
  • Training: EVS and the Battle Against Infection

Health Care Personnel

• Centers for Disease Control
  • Infection Control Basics
  • Vaccines & Immunizations
  • Immunization Schedules, healthcare providers
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  • Standard 1910.1030 - Bloodborne pathogens.
  • Fact Sheet - Bloodborne Pathogens Standard
  • Quick Reference Guide to the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard