At my workplace, both active and passive surveillance are used, but passive surveillance is more common. Passive surveillance occurs during routine patient care, where nurses and frontline staff are often the first to notice changes in a patient’s condition, such as new symptoms or signs of infection. For example, when a patient develops respiratory symptoms or a fever, the nurse documents and reports it to the IPAC team, which helps initiate further monitoring and intervention.

Active surveillance is also present but less frequent and is mainly carried out by the IPAC team. It involves more intentional efforts, such as conducting unit rounds and reviewing patient information to identify new infections and trends. In my workplace, a member of the IPAC team comes to the unit most mornings to review patients who are on isolation. They assess whether further testing is needed to confirm or rule out an infection and determine when a patient can be safely removed from isolation which will then be communicated to the unit management for further action.

I believe passive surveillance is especially important in my workplace because nurses are continuously at the bedside and can quickly recognize subtle changes in patients, such as a low-grade fever or new cough that may indicate a respiratory infection. Early detection allows for timely interventions, including isolation precautions and treatment, which helps to prevent the spread of infections and promote overall patient safety and quality care.

I work in the long-term care setting on night shift, surveillance is primarily a hybrid of passive and active approaches, with a greater reliance on passive surveillance due to workflow and staffing structure. As a unit lead, my role focuses on medication administration, treatments, and clinical oversight, while personal support workers (PSWs) provide most of the direct resident care. Consequently, I depend on PSWs to report any observed changes in residents’ conditions, which reflects passive surveillance. However, active surveillance is still present through intentional rounding, follow-up assessments, and clinical evaluation of reported concerns. Any significant findings are escalated to the RN in charge for further management. Additionally, more formal active surveillance activities, such as infection tracking and trend analysis, are typically conducted by IPAC, clinical leadership, and management. This collaborative approach ensures timely identification and response to changes in resident health, even within the constraints of night shift operations. I see passive surveillance as an important because even though I’m not directly providing care to residents’ from early reporting from PSWs and conducting my intentional rounding early detections regarding resident status can be quickly dealt with it at that given moment.

At the long-term care facility where I work, extensive passive surveillance is part of the infection prevention and control procedures designed to quickly identify and report residents who are exhibiting signs and symptoms of illness. These measures help reduce the spread of infection to other residents and prevent outbreaks. For example, staff members, such as personal support workers, will report to the registered staff any new symptoms noticed in a resident, such as a cough, runny nose, vomiting, or diarrhea. The registered staff will then monitor the residents’ symptoms to see whether they continue to worsen or improve and also watch for additional cases among other residents presenting with similar symptoms. If more cases are identified, as part of active surveillance, the registered staff will inform the IPAC team immediately, and active screening for various illnesses will be conducted. Those residents who are symptomatic will be placed in isolation, and outbreak precautions will be implemented in the unit for all staff and visitors to follow. These measures must remain in place until the IPAC team has determined that the environment is safe enough to lift outbreak precautions. Collectively, passive and active surveillance are vital procedures for long-term care facilities that decrease the spread of infection and protect everyone involved.