The experience of executing preventive measures to protect a nursing home in Taiwan from a COVID-19 outbreak

PURPOSE: We share our strategies for preventing the COVID-19 outbreak in a nursing home in Taiwan. METHODS: We compared the number of outpatient department visits, the days of prescription from the outpatient department, the number of emergency department visits of the nursing home residents and staff, the number of admissions, and the days of admission of the residents for respiratory tract infection treatment between 2019 and 2020 to examine the effect of our preventive measures in the nursing home. Residents and staff who continuously lived and worked in the nursing home from 2019 to 2020 were included. The differences in outcomes between 2019 and 2020 were examined using paired sample t tests. The multivariate analyses were presented through generalized estimating equation analysis. RESULTS: A cohort of 183 residents and 127 staff was included and their electronic medical documentation was analyzed in two periods: January–September 2019 and January–September 2020. These residents had lower numbers of outpatient department visits (P < 0.001), days of prescription from the outpatient department (P < 0.001), number of emergency department visits (P < 0.001), number of admissions (P < 0.001), and days of admission (P < 0.001) to treat respiratory tract infections from January–September 2020 than January–September 2019. These staff members had lower numbers of outpatient department visits (P = 0.015) and days of prescription from the outpatient department (P = 0.009) to treat respiratory tract infections from January–September 2020 than January–September 2019. CONCLUSION: The association between our preventive measures and decreasing the risk of respiratory tract infection in nursing home residents and staff could be found. Sharing these experiences is valuable, as they provide important insights related to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41999-021-00459-7.