How much time should long-term care and geriatric rehabilitation facilities (nursing homes) spend on infection control?

Background: For hospitals, standards for the required number of infection control personnel are outdated and disputed. Such standards are not even available for long-term care and geriatric rehabilitation facilities (ie, nursing homes). This study addressed the question of how much time nursing homes should spend on infection control. Methods: Through group discussions and individual sessions, experienced infection control practitioners, medical microbiologists, and nursing home doctors evaluated the time needed to perform infection control activities in a model nursing home. Results: The number of hours needed was estimated as 513 per 100 beds, or 154 per 10,000 care-days per year. Conclusion: Giventhat significantdifferencescanbeexpectedamongthevarious facilities identified asnursinghomes, long-termcare facilities, or geriatric rehabilitation centers, as well as among countries, the standard that we propose for The Netherlands will not be