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Care Area Assessments Review Guidelines for Long Term Care

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The National Guideline Clearinghouse has updated the guideline summaries for the following guidelines from the American Medical Directors Association, which may assist you to help facilitate the Care Area Assessments (CAAs) review:

• Altered nutrional status in the long-term care setting. This updates a previously published guideline summary.
  
• COPD management in the long-term care setting. This update a previously published guideline summary.
• Heart failure in the long-term care setting. This updates a previously published guideline summary.
  
• Parkinson's disease. This updates a previously published guideline summary.
• Transitions of care in the long-term continuum.
• Urinary incontinence. This updates a previously published guideline summary. 

A new report, Effectiveness of Early Diagnosis, Prevention, and Treatment of Clostridium difficile Infection, examines current evidence for C. difficile diagnosis, treatment, and prevention methods. The report finds that the standard antibiotic treatments—oral vancomycin, metronidazole, and the newly approved fidaxomicin—are equally effective for curing initial C. difficile infections. However, recurrence of C. difficile infections was found to be less frequent for those who used fidaxomicin rather than vancomycin. Clostridium difficile is a dangerous healthcare-associated infection and a growing health care problem, especially among older adults and those with weakened immune systems. The report is accompanied by clinician and consumer summaries, as well as a CME activity and faculty slides for clinicians.