COVID-19 resources for health care providers

Guidance documents designed for the health care sector including advice for management of cases and contacts of COVID-19 is available.

KFL&A Public Health has information on outbreak, case, and contact management guidance related to institutions on our infection prevention and control guidelines page.

Resources

Environmental Cleaning – Clinical setting

Maintaining a safe, clean and hygienic environment and minimizing microbial contamination of surfaces, items and equipment within the health care environment is increasingly recognized as an essential approach to reducing the risk of health care-associated infections for all patients/residents/clients, visitors and staff within health care settings. The best practices set out in PIDAC’s Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning for Infection Prevention and Control provide criteria for cleanliness in health care settings that may be adopted by environmental service managers for their use or for the use of contracted services.

Other considerations

Follow your ‘terminal cleaning’ protocol for cleaning of a patient's room after discharge, transfer or discontinuation of precautions. See Appendix 6 in the Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning for Prevention and Control of Infections in All Health Care Settings, 3rd Edition for a sample ‘terminal cleaning’ procedure.

Ensure rooms have minimal equipment or supplies to help facilitate the environmental cleaning process.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) measures

As per Public Health’s Ontario (PHO), an individual assessment of each client, patient or resident’s potential risk of transmission of microorganisms must be made by all health care providers and other staff who come into contact with them. Based on that risk assessment and a risk assessment of the task, staff may determine appropriate intervention and interaction strategies, such as hand hygiene, waste management, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and client, patient or resident placement, that will reduce the risk of transmission of microorganisms to and from the individual. When a client, patient or resident has undiagnosed symptoms or signs of an infection, interventions must be informed by organizational requirements. For more information on how to perform a risk assessment please visit PHO’s website.
Learn how to properly and safely put on and take off various PPE including masks, respirators, eye protection, gowns and gloves at PHO.

Specific IPAC measures include:

Signage is displayed requesting patients with symptoms to wear a mask, perform hand hygiene upon entering the office, and practice cough etiquette.
Performing hand hygiene (i.e., using alcohol-based hand rub or washing hands with soap and water) before entering and after exiting the patient’s room, and after taking off and disposing of personal protective equipment.
Instruct the patient that if they need to cough or sneeze, to do so into a tissue and clean their hands or cough into their sleeve.
Instruct the patient to wear a surgical or procedure mask if tolerated.
In the community office setting, patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should be placed immediately in a separate room with the door closed.
Conducting examination procedures that minimize contact with droplets or aerosols (i.e., sitting next to rather than in front of a coughing patient).
Wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when caring for a patient with suspected or confirmed COVID-19:

The recommended PPE when providing direct care for patients with suspect or confirmed COVID-19 includes a well-fitted medical mask (surgical or procedure) or a fit-tested, seal-checked N95 respirator (or equivalent), eye protection, gown, and gloves.
Use Airborne Precautions when aerosol generating medical procedures (AGMPs) are planned or anticipated to be performed on patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.

All staff that are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) need to be properly trained in the recommended steps for putting on and taking off PPE.

Cleaning and disinfecting communal or shared equipment after use; pay attention to contact time on the label.

General resources and information for health care providers

Interim Infection Prevention and Control Measures Based on Respiratory Virus Transmission Risk in Health Care Settings - Public Health Ontario
Online IPAC courses - Public Health Ontario
Orders, Directives, Memorandums, and other resources - Ontario Ministry of Health
Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases Map -Johns Hopkins
Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome in adults - Public Health Ontario

Signage for health care settings

Additional Precautions Signage and Lanyard Cards - Public Health Ontario
Clinical Office Practice - Choose "Select a type of resource," then "sign" or "pocket card" - Public Health Ontario

Patient information sheets

Infographic on Managing Stress, Anxiety and Substance Use during COVID-19 - Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse
COVID-19 awareness factsheets - Government of Canada
Multilingual information sheets (e.g., How to self-monitor, how to self-isolate, and self-isolation: guide for caregivers, household members, and close contacts) - Public Health Ontario
COVID-19 Information for the public - Ministry of Health

For an accessible version of a resource, please contact KFL&A Public Health

COVID-19 resources for health care providers

Resources

Vaccination

Local epidemiology

Screening, testing, and case management for patients

Guidance documents