A bed bug policy for in home health care needs to ensure that the home is safe for all household members and meet the legal requirements in your area. Bed bugs are a growing problem in health care facilities. They can be found in hospitals, long term care facilities, and even private homes. Home Health Care companies need to address the issue of bedbugs for the safety of their patients. Bed Bugs have returned. According to www.bedbugsguide.com, infestations have quadrupled in the last ten years. Aside from being a nuisance, for those who are susceptible to bites and allergies, the bite can cause long term psychological trauma similar to the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Bed bug infestations are requiring more and more attention in the news. But the concept of bed bugs can seem confusing. Are they dangerous? Is the threat real? What should you do to protect yourself from these insects?

Bed Bug Policy For Home Health Care

INTRODUCTION

This policy provides guidelines for the prevention of bed bug infestation in home health care settings. The purpose is to ensure that all employees, volunteers, contractors and other persons who enter a facility have been properly informed of their responsibilities with regard to preventing the introduction and spread of bed bugs.

Additionally, this policy provides a framework by which an organization can identify and address any existing infestation.

REQUIREMENTS TO AVOID BED BUG INFESTATION

You never know where bed bugs can be found. They are not just in hotels and other public places, but they are also in homes and apartments. Don’t bring any used furniture or mattresses into your home. Do not buy secondhand furniture or clothing. If you have to buy used items, make sure the place where you bought it is clean and that there aren’t any signs of infestation such as tiny black dots on the surfaces or attached to clothing or fabric.

PREVENTION OF CONTAMINATION

To avoid bringing bed bugs into your home, refrain from:

• Bringing in used furniture, mattresses, or box springs. These items can carry bed bugs and other pests and should be discarded if you suspect that they may be infested.
• Picking up furniture from the side of the road. If you see a mattress or box spring on the side of the road that looks like it has been abandoned, do not pick it up! It’s better to be safe than sorry—and an infestation could cost thousands of dollars to get rid of.

In addition to these precautions when bringing new items into your home, keep clutter limited and make sure everything is clean at all times:

TECHNICAL PROTOCOL FOR HANDLING AND DISPOSAL OF CONTAMINATED LINENS

These steps are important to take in order to properly and safely handle contaminated linens.

• Use heavy-duty plastic bags. If you have a home health care company, purchase 20 or more large, heavy-duty plastic trash bags. These will be used to store any contaminated linens until they can be discarded (see below).
• Double-bag the linens and seal the bags. Put one set of bedsheets into each large black trash bag, then double up on them: Put another set of bedsheets into the same bag, then twist tie or secure with tape as tightly as possible so that no air is escaping from inside the bag. This will prevent any bedbugs from escaping during storage and transportation between houses.

DISINFECTING AND CLEANING EQUIPMENT AND HOUSEKEEPING SUPPLIES

The following items should be clean and disinfected after each patient:

• Environmental surfaces, such as floors, walls and ceilings. Clean with a diluted bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water) and mop.
• Furniture, mattresses, box springs and bed frames. Vacuum thoroughly and steam-clean if possible. Leave items in direct sunlight for at least four hours to kill bed bugs that hide in cracks or crevices during the day; try not to disturb them unless you see signs of infestation (look for spots on sheets). If the item cannot be removed from its location or is too heavy to move outside, apply an insecticide directly onto any areas that may harbor live bugs—such as under cushions—and leave it there until morning when they will die from lack of food and moisture over night

ROUTINE INSPECTION, MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTICS

You will be required to conduct a visual inspection of the home and its furnishings for signs of bed bugs. This inspection should be performed by you, or someone on your staff, prior to accepting any new patients who may have been exposed to bed bugs (e.g., hospitalization).

You will also be required to employ monitoring techniques in order to detect any presence of bed bugs in your facility or on your premises. These techniques can include visual inspections and/or use of trained dogs that are specifically skilled in finding indications of live bed bug infestations.

If you find evidence indicating an active infestation, you must act immediately by treating all rooms where evidence has been found using approved methods (such as heat treatments) before allowing patients back into those areas; confirm that no further infestations exist before allowing further patient access; educate involved staff members about proper hand washing practices so as not to transfer live eggs onto clothing or other belongings when leaving work each day; and inform new families who come into contact with potentially infected items outside their home environment about how best keep themselves safe from future exposure—for example: packing clothes inside luggage during travel rather than leaving them out overnight where they could potentially pick up hitchhiking insects along the way!

Home Health Care Providers have to have a bed bug policy.

Home Health Care Providers have to have a bed bug policy. Bed bugs are a public health issue that can affect anyone, not just in the home health care setting. They are carried by people, animals and objects from place to place and can get into your home through cracks or crevices near doors, windows or floorboards. They can also hitchhike on clothing or furniture that is brought into your home by visitors.

Bed bugs feed at night while you sleep and they are small enough to hide in tiny spaces like mattresses, box springs, bed frames and furniture cracks so they are often harder to see than other pests such as cockroaches which tend not to hide under beds when there isn’t food around – they wander more freely throughout the house looking for it! Bed Bug bites cause allergic reactions including swelling/redness around the bite area which might take several days before appearing (which means if someone gets bitten by one while visiting you at night they may not know until after they leave). Bites from these little critters may also cause skin irritation but no serious health problems beyond those mentioned above due largely because this pest does not transmit any diseases through their bite like mosquitoes do with West Nile Virus for example.*