ICARE Lessons & Resources
The ICARE lessons and resources provided below can help you move through the three steps of the ICARE program: education, engagement, and empowerment.
These small, progressive steps create a nursing home community where resident-centered infection prevention is the goal, balancing infection control with resident rights in a collaborative, empowered community.
ICARE: Education
The first step of the ICARE program focuses on educating on the basic principles of nursing home infection prevention and control, which help promote and protect residents’ rights. Quality care is achieved only when infection prevention and control are balanced with residents’ rights.
The ICARE core lessons below cover major infection prevention and control topics and requirements while emphasizing six core resident rights.
These short lessons can be taken in any order and can be helpful to anyone who lives, works, or advocates for residents in a nursing home community.
- Lesson 1: Common Infections in Nursing Home Communities
- Lesson 2: Preventing Infections in Nursing Home Communities
- Lesson 3: Safeguarding the Nursing Home Environment
- Lesson 4: Hand Hygiene Heroes!
- Lesson 5: Gowns, Gloves, and Goggles: Precautions for Prevention
- Lesson 6: Protect Yourself & Others: Less Antibiotics, More Vaccines
- Lesson 7: Nursing Home Response: Outbreaks and Other Emergencies
The lessons below provide supplemental information regarding an infection prevention and control topic:
The information sheets below provide infection prevention requirements, residents’ rights, and an overview of the ICARE program:
- Nursing Home Infection Prevention Requirements
- ICARE: Preserve my Rights, Prevent Infections
- ICARE Program Overview
The information sheets below provide a summary of the major points from each ICARE core and supplemental lesson:
ICARE: Engagement
The second ICARE step begins by understanding resident care roles within a nursing home community and learning how these different roles work together to provide quality care. This leads to engaging with nursing home leadership and staff on infection prevention-related quality measures.
The information sheets below provide more information about nursing community personnel who are key to providing high-quality care, including infection prevention and control.
The PowerPoint files below contain everything needed to teach each of the ICARE lessons including slides with scripts and informational resources.
These files are made available to help long-term care ombudsmen, other nursing home advocates, and nursing home staff present ICARE lessons at council meetings or staff training events.
- Lesson 1: Common Infections in Nursing Home Communities
- Lesson 2: Preventing Infections in Nursing Home Communities
- Lesson 3: Safeguarding the Nursing Home Environment
- Lesson 4: Hand Hygiene Heroes!
- Lesson 5: Gowns, Gloves, and Goggles: Precautions for Prevention
- Lesson 6: Protect Yourself & Others: Less Antibiotics, More Vaccines
- Lesson 7: How to Respond to Outbreaks and Other Emergencies
Bingo games for resident and family infection control awareness and education:
- Bug Bingo: focuses on hand hygiene and residents’ rights.
- Enhanced Barrier Precautions Bingo: focuses on enhanced barrier precautions and residents’ rights.
ICARE Infection Control Education and Skills Fair: if you want to provide an ICARE fair in your community focused on the ICARE lesson topics, please email ICARE@unthealth.edu
ICARE: Empowerment
The final step of the ICARE program is achieved when everyone in the nursing home community, residents, family members, advocates, staff, and nursing home leaders, are empowered to take an active role in improving care through infection prevention and control quality assurance and improvement initiatives.
The information sheets below provide details regarding the ICARE program and how ombudsmen and other advocates can use it.
- ICARE Program Overview
- Advocacy and Lessons Overview
- Long-term Care Ombudsman Guide
- Long-term Care Ombudsman: Q&A
- Safeguarding the Nursing Home Environment: The Ombudsman’s Role
- Infection Control & Residents’ Rights: Tool for Long-Term Care Ombudsmen
- Infection Control Requirements and Promoting Residents’ Rights