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Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Staff Training:

Don't Let Your Pericare Program Impair Your UTI QI

Published on Sat Aug 27, 2005

Promote best practices with these training and mentoring tips.

Pericare sounds like a simple nursing procedure - but perform it incorrectly and watch your UTI rates soar, landing your facility with citations and fines.

Best-practice facilities offer up the following tips for ensuring front-line nursing staff perform this essential hygiene care in a way that prevents UTI and skin problems.

  • Get creative with hands-on training demonstrations for pericare. To teach CNAs how to perform this essential hygiene care without contaminating the urinary meatus, Park Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center uses a perineal dummy that costs about $300 and chocolate pudding to simulate feces. "We drape the perineal dummy and have the CNAs do a return demonstration showing correct technique where they always wipe toward the anus," says Joanne Bunch, RN, C, RHIT, NHA, LNC, the director of nursing and administrator for the Selma, AL facility.

    Go with the glow: As part of training, the continuing education staff also applies "glow germ" to the perineal dummy and then puts those areas under a black light after the CNAs say they have cleaned it adequately.

    "The glow germ shows that the area isn't as clean as the CNAs thought," says Bunch. The trainers also apply "glow germ" on CNAs' hands so they can see whether their handwashing technique is effective, Bunch adds.

  • Conduct nursing skills fairs where CNAs go booth to booth to work on perianal hygiene care, preventing UTIs and handwashing. That's the approach Bordeaux Nursing Home uses with great success, reports Shara Stodola, RN, director of nursing for the facility in Nashville, TN.

  • Develop standardized care protocols for pericare and peer monitoring systems. The CNAs at Bordeaux Nursing Home use a checklist to perform perciare and monitor each other, says Stodola. The licensed nurses also check the CNAs off on performing the skill, she adds.

  • Provide effective resources to perform pericare. Bordeaux Nursing Home trial tested a number of pericare wipe products to find the best one, says Stodola.

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