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Fit testing is not a legal requirement., below is the Victorian state guidance for health services.
Fit testing should be repeated at appropriate intervals (annually and no longer than 18 months), particularly for healthcare workers, including students and volunteers, identified to be working in high-risk areas, or who are required to routinely enter high risk areas, or be otherwise considered priority staff, and in line with the health services risk prioritisation framework. For healthcare workers in low-risk areas, annual fit testing may not be necessary but fit testing frequency should not exceed more than two years. However, the ability of each health service to implement repeat fit-testing annually for all healthcare workers required to wear RPE will be dependent on the size of the organisation, the risk profile of their healthcare workers and the fit testing resources available.
Health service organisations may choose to implement more rigorous re-testing policies for their HCWs than what is recommended within this guideline.
Ref: Victorian Respiratory Protection Program.There is no clear direction in the Australian Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare, they defer to state requirements.
Then to add to the fun…Worksafe require staff to be fit tested if they are required to wear N95 masks.
The Aged Care Rules 2025 requires the AC provider keep records of staff and resident vaccinations for COVID-19 and influenza in written or electronic form for 7 years starting on the day the record is made or received.
Hi Carrie,
I think sessions on communication and education would be helpful.
Communication for sharing ideas and having conversations about improving practice when substandard IPC practice is observed.Education – formal teaching and short and sharp – tool box 5 minute session.
Penny
Hi Michelle,
We have external auditors, these are observational audits.
I have utilised frequent touch point auditing using fluorescent gel dots. This supports timely evaluation and education of cleaners. Particularly, if you have a resident with a multiresistant organism infection/colonisation and you want to be confident the room is being appropriately cleaned.
Management of linen from a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case should be in accordance with standard precautions and routine procedure.
Handle soiled laundry with minimum agitation (do not shake dirty laundry) to avoid contamination of the air, surfaces, and persons.
Linen that is heavily soiled with blood, body substances or other fluids (including water) should be contained in clear leak-proof bags.
Personal clothing that is usually laundered by the family should be placed in a plastic bag for transport.
Clothing, linen, mop heads and soft toys from health service settings should be laundered through a laundry service that is compliant with AS/NZS 4146:2000.
For residential settings, laundry should be washed at the hottest temperature the items can withstand. Use usual detergent and dry items completely.
ref: https://www.health.vic.gov.au/covid-19-infection-prevention-control-guidelines/standard-and-transmission-based-precautionsAttaching hand hygiene (HH) product to equipment is a way to have point of care access to HH e.g. weigh chairs, equipment trolleys.
The hand hygiene product representative is a good resource to support hand hygiene availability .The rep will know what other possibilities there are for increasing access to the HH product you use, such as brackets (usually provided free of charge).
Hand hygiene compliance of HH on entering and leaving a resident’s room is a helpful message.Hi Catherine,
My work was for a public health service (with 3 x 100 bed RACHs) and notification extended across the service via resident erecord, health service erecord (pathology, acute care notes), client administration notes, and hard copy kept in resident notes at the facility.
The onus is on nursing staff to check the alerts, on saying that the IPCC visits regularly and checks resident, staff and visitors understand measures in place.
Generally, standard transmission based precautions are sufficient for most MROs and even CPO with measures in place if the resident has incontinence or diarrhoea for GI MROs. CPOs have additional transmission measures and I have initiated a MRO specific care plan for individuals living with CPE in a care plan specific to each staff group e.g. what this means for the cleaner, nurse etc.
Additional transmission based cleaning is communicated via a daily cleaning list sent to the environmental manager and a discreet IPC sign (4 x 4cm clean hands sign) on the residents door.
As with Carrie, the daily handover form includes any MRO the resident is infected or colonised with.
The documentation in the resident erecord includes a care plan for the specific MRO. This MRO is closed off per the Australasian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare (2019) https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-guidelines-prevention-and-control-infection-healthcare-2019.
The infection prevention services for the organisation usually manage the alerts across the organisation. The IPC leads manage the resident erecord.Kind regards
Penny Radalj
IPCC and AC Lead
Barwon South West PHU
Vistoria
