A research group from the clinic for infectiology/infection prevention at St. Gallen Cantonal Hospital and the Geriatric Clinic St. Gallen looked at 8,676 publications, of which 74 studies on the topic “effectiveness of measures to prevent and control infection in long-term care facilities” met the inclusion criteria for systematic literary research. However, the studies were mostly of poor quality and highly heterogeneous with regard to setting, intervention measures, populations and results.
Literary research shows that there is good data on hand hygiene among staff and oral hygiene among residents to prevent pathogen transmission in long-term care.
Training measures for staff, antimicrobial stewardship and vaccinations also seem consistently effective.
There is relatively good data on the effectiveness of vaccinations, mass testing and packages of infection-prevention measures in outbreak situations, gathered mainly during SARS CoV-2 outbreaks.
Data on the influence of infection prevention and control measures on the quality of life in long-term care institutions is sparse or even non-existent.