Most home care agencies (except those affiliated
with a hospital) are not subject to any other source of
detailed uniform infection control standards (besides
the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard), such as the infection
control standards of the Joint Commission.7 Moreover,
the conditions under which nurses provide care
in patients’ homes are not governed by any regulations
or standards.
Under these circumstances, home care nurses might
not be provided with sufficient PPE; may be unable to
properly assess the need to use the equipment in particular
situations, because of inadequate training or unfavorable
work conditions; and may be unable to use
the equipment when they do determine that it is
needed, because of unfavorable work conditions. We
investigated these issues in a population-based study
of home care nurses.