Partner Feature: Christian Living Communities and Cappella Living Services
The Power of Partnership
Nathalie Knopp BA, RN, BSN, serves as the Regional Director of Clinical Services for Christian Living Communities (CLC) and Cappella Living Services. CLC is a mission-driven, non-profit organization with a mission of enriching the lives of older adults through services and care that reflect Christian love, respect and compassion toward each individual. Several communities within the CLC and Cappella Living Services family are part of the Telligen QI Connect™ network.
Knopp requested assistance from Telligen to improve infection prevention and control (IPC) practices in assisted living communities for Christian Living Communities and Cappella Living Solutions. Over a nine-month period, Telligen’s nursing home and partnership for community health teams met with Knopp to discuss quality improvement and IPC processes which led to eight completed COVID-19 infection prevention rounding tours and performance improvement projects. Through this partnership and Knopp’s strong leadership, gaps in infection and prevention and control practices were identified and the teams at CLC and Cappella Living Services focused on hand hygiene. Various Telligen tools, including the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Rounding Tool and Audit Tracking Tool Workbook were utilized to track data throughout the project.
“Our community’s interdisciplinary teams (IDT) were initially hesitant to have Telligen round on-site. However, once the IDT team started to answer questions during the rounding tours guided by Telligen experts using the IPC Rounding Tool, trust was developed through conversations and meaningful guidance based on evidenced based practices. Quickly, we found that teams are siloed. The tours helped foster a culture of teamwork with mutual respect to break down silos. The project encouraged communication and collaboration with separate departments sharing different viewpoints, diverse knowledge and varied perspectives which led to solutions that may not have been thought of by one single discipline,” explains Knopp.
Featured Resources
Download these tools to kickstart your infection prevention quality improvement goals.
Infection Prevention and Control Rounding Tool
The IPC Rounding Tool aided Telligen and Knopp to identify one specific infection prevention gap – hand hygiene. The Audit Tracking Tool assisted clinical leaders to easily conduct observational audits and record findings. The CLC and Cappella Living Services workgroup analyzed the audit data and used the information to develop community-specific SMART goals with a performance improvement project. This comprehensive team approach led to sustainable systems for quality improvement as the team shared the responsibility for maintaining and continuously enhancing systems.
Achieving Success Together
Knopp and her teams felt empowered and gained a deeper understanding of quality improvement and infection prevention practices which led to enhanced hand hygiene and IPC competencies. Additional benefits were improved communication and awareness among interdisciplinary teams along with increased education and focus on infection prevention. This resulted in better morale, stronger relationships and a collaborative team approach.
Teams across CLC and Cappella Living Services discovered that quality improvement is not a linear process and learned how to tackle challenges through the quality improvement process. Additionally, they realized that their assisted living communities are not alone and that Telligen was available to guide them through the process and offer assistance as needed. “The partnership with CLC and Cappella Living Services was a fantastic learning experience and an excellent opportunity to strengthen relationships both internally and with assisted living (AL) leadership,” said Telligen’s Program Specialist RoseAnna Milanovic.
Melissa Bray, RN, BSN, Assisted Living Director at Casey’s Pond (part of Cappella Living Services) shared this about her experience: “At our assisted living community, we set a SMART goal to improve hand hygiene compliance. With the invaluable support of Telligen who helped us identify key areas for improvement in infection prevention and provided essential tools, we focused our re-education efforts on specific departments where adherence was lagging. As a result, we successfully increased our hand hygiene rate. This significant improvement not only enhances resident safety and care quality but also makes us feel more prepared for state surveys, reinforcing our commitment to maintaining a healthy and secure environment for our residents.”
Sarina Vialpando, QMAP, Health & Wellness Coordinator at Dayspring Villa (part of CLC) adds, “Telligen was a big help to our community. They helped bring awareness to our different departments and how much of a part that we play in infection control. It also helped open my eyes to different parts of infection prevention that I had never thought of before. All in all, it really helped the different departments of the community come together for the greater good of the community.”
Sharing Their Story
In September, CLC and Telligen co-presented at the Colorado Health Care Association Fall Convention. Milanovic and Knopp spoke about their successful infection prevention and control collaboration in a presentation titled, “Creating a Culture of Infection Prevention.” Sharing the immense successes of this partnership was an impactful way to connect with other facilities in Colorado about a real-world experience. Using the information that CLC facilities tracked, they were able to improve hand hygiene and infection prevention competencies, implement interventions for non-compliance and increase overall awareness. The topic of hand hygiene is relatable to all assisted living and skilled nursing facilities and CLC’s experience showcased that there are no failures in quality improvement – only opportunities.
“Nathalie’s inspiring leadership made supporting the ALs and presenting at CHCA enjoyable and rewarding. Since infection prevention is crucial to patient safety, I appreciated the chance to demonstrate how quality improvement can be manageable, straightforward, and a collaborative effort across disciplines,” reflects Milanovic.
Our collaborative project and presentation at CHCA was an amazing way to finalize our venture. RoseAnna and the Telligen team of experts supported processes, education and tools to inspire our teams to expand their knowledge in the quality improvement process, implementing interventions, education, and attention to infection prevention. Thank you Telligen team for supporting our teams through their QI journey to enhance the quality and dignity of life for the older adults we are honored to serve.
Nathalie Knopp
