The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of Long Term Care (LTC) homes throughout the world, with many countries reporting a troubling number of cases and deaths in LTC. Infection prevention and control protocols for hospital settings are relatively well-established to support hand hygiene, donning and doffing of personal protective equipment, cleaning and disinfection, and isolating and cohorting cases. Yet the protocols for LTC have not been examined to the same extent when developed and deployed rapidly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers have recognized the neglect of human factors, principles and research methods in infection prevention and control for LTC to be a weakness in the healthcare field.

In this talk Professor Chantal Trudel will discuss how she and a team of researchers will address how the redevelopment of Canada’s long-term care homes infrastructure is crucial in balancing infection prevention and control (IPAC) with residents’ quality of life and care, particularly during pandemic conditions such as COVID-19.

Speaker(s):

Professor Chantal Trudel is an industrial designer and ergonomist/human factors professional with over 10 years of industry experience in architecture and healthcare planning. Her healthcare design work has received prestigious recognitions including the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence (2010) and a High Commendation from the International Academy for Design (2012) for the Women and Newborn Hospital (Winnipeg, Manitoba). In 2018, her research in design for infection prevention and control was one of the 3 most cited publications within 3 years in the Proceedings of the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care. This work has also been cited by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Emory University School of Medicine, and the Centres for Disease Control.