Decolonization as an Effective Strategy in Nursing Homes

The goal of this training is to introduce medical directors and nursing home leaders to decolonization as an effective strategy to reduce infections, hospitalizations, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens in nursing homes. 

This course is timely in providing a broad-based infection prevention solution, given the newly announced CMS risk-adjusted Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) Requiring Hospitalizations measure to track infections acquired during nursing home stays. Notably, decolonization has been shown to reduce:

• Bloodstream infections,
• Skin and soft tissue infection,
• Surgical site infections,
• Bacteria and candida in the urine, and
• Infections due to multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs).

This course provides:

• Large-scale clinical trial evidence showing that universal use of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) antiseptic soap for routine bathing and nasal ointment reduces the key outcomes listed above.
• Business case for implementation and the importance of a training campaign. 
• Free online materials for implementation, including QAPI plan. 
• Expected timeline for improvement.

1.00 CMD Clinical

Release Date: 10/23/2025   |   Expiration: 10/23/2028

Credit Statements 

CMD Credit Hours: This CME activity has been pre-approved for up to 1.0 clinical hour(s) toward certification or recertification as a Certified Medical Director (CMD) in post-acute and long-term care medicine. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit actually spent on the activity. The CMD Program is administered by PALTmed. For further information, contact PALTmed at 410-992-3115 or at certification@paltmed.org.