Quality Assurance and Prevention of COVID-19 Before Admission in Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit in Long-Term Care Facilities

Background This quality assurance study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to describe the profile of patients aged 65 years and older admitted to a transition unit in a long-term care (LTC) facility and to evaluate the impact of admission modalities, compliance with screening and hand hygiene practices, risk of COVID-19, and time to access a geriatric rehabilitation unit (GRU). Methods A prospective study was conducted using administrative and medical records from three Montreal public LTC facilities offering a rehabilitation program for 312 patients admit-ted between May 2020 and February 2021. The results are reported for the entire sample and compared according to the mode of admission. Results The incidence of COVID-19 during the transition unit stay was estimated to be 11 cases or 3.5% in 14 days. Assessment of screening compliance showed deficiencies for 41.3% of patients, and the frequency of hand hygiene audits was not strictly adhered to. More COVID-19 cases were recorded in patients admitted to the transition unit by bed availability than in the cohort mode. The time to access a rehabilitation unit was 7.2 days or 23.5% shorter for patients admitted by bed availability. Conclusions The study, conducted from a continuous practice improvement perspective, showed that the implementation of a transition unit in the LTC facilities helped control the transmission of COVID-19, but also revealed flaws in screening and hand hygiene practices.