VIPTA is a statewide infection prevention and control education collaborative, led by the Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group. Through partnership, VIPTA curates IPC resources for Virginia’s healthcare, congregate care, and public health settings.
“Wait – Do I Need PPE for This?” Making Sense of Enhanced Barrier Precautions
Infection prevention in long-term care takes teamwork—and sometimes a little extra reinforcement. It’s been a year since CMS formally added Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) to infection control guidance, and that big question— “Do I need PPE for this?”—still comes up.
EBP expands personal protective equipment (PPE) use beyond isolation, applying to high-contact care like wound care, changing linens, and bathing. EBP is key to stopping the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in long-term care facilities, but it takes clear systems and consistent staff education to make it stick.
What to Expect: This month’s resources are designed to meet your team where they are—whether you’re providing direct care, coordinating therapy, or supporting infection prevention efforts facility-wide.
- 8 Moments of Enhanced Barrier Precautions: Simple visual education tool. If you’ve ever heard “Do I need PPE for this?”—this tool is your new best friend. Also available in 8 other languages!
- VDH’s Enhanced Barrier Precautions in Nursing Homes Algorithm: This decision-making tool breaks down when and why to use EBP in plain language.
- CDC’s EBP Implementation—Observations Tool: Built for infection preventionists and facility leads, this resource helps track EBP use and identify areas for coaching
How to Use These Resources:
- Share the 8 Moments visual in breakrooms, care stations, huddles, or staff emails.
- Use the algorithm and observation tool to support your facility’s infection control plan or prep for survey readiness.
Enhanced Barrier Precautions are a big shift, but they’re not a solo effort. Whether you’re providing direct care or leading infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts, these tools are here to help you do the work and explain the why. Infection prevention is always evolving, but so are we.
Making Infection Prevention Fun: A Creative Skills Fair
Infection prevention is a critical topic in healthcare, but engaging staff in learning can often be challenging. Jennifer Kemp, RN, CRRN, CBIS, CIC, Infection Preventionist at Sheltering Arms Institute, a nationally ranked physical rehabilitation provider located in Richmond, Virginia, decided to break away from the traditional lecture style and bring a new level of energy and interaction to infection prevention education. Her solution? A Jeopardy-style game combined with hands-on demonstrations, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Turning Learning into a Game: With only a short time to capture attention and convey essential information, Jennifer opted for a format that encouraged participation and fun. The Jeopardy game included categories such as:
- Isolation Signage and Precautions
- Cleaning and Disinfection
- Odds and Ends
- Germ Matching
This interactive approach kept participants engaged while reinforcing key infection prevention concepts.
Hands-On Demonstrations: To further enhance learning, Jennifer introduced practical demonstrations that allowed participants to apply their knowledge. Some highlights included:
- Hand Hygiene with a Twist: Participants put on gloves, applied paint, closed their eyes, and sang “Happy Birthday” while performing their usual hand hygiene. The paint revealed commonly missed areas like between the fingers, around nails, and at the wrist driving home the importance of thorough technique.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Donning and Doffing Challenge: Teams competed to correctly put on and remove PPE. This exercise exposed common errors such as incorrect sequencing and failure to tie gowns, emphasizing why attention to detail matters for safety.
- Cleaning and Disinfection Drill: Participants cleaned shared medical equipment like vital signs monitors, learning why one wipe is not enough. This activity underscored the importance of using multiple wipes for different parts of the equipment to ensure complete disinfection.
- Germ-to-Isolation Matching: Teams matched pathogens (e.g., MRSA, C. difficile, COVID-19) with the appropriate PPE and cleaning products. This reinforced understanding of isolation precautions and environmental cleaning requirements.
Why It Worked: The interactive format fostered teamwork, critical thinking, and practical application. Even seasoned nurses benefited by revisiting proper protocols and correcting habits that had drifted from best practice. Jennifer’s creative approach was so effective that participants called her booth the best skills fair of the year.
Jennifer’s innovative approach demonstrates that infection prevention education can be both fun and effective.
