Long-term care homes live by their supply room. When an outbreak hits a wing, the difference between containment and chaos is often whether the right PPE and hygiene supplies were stocked the week before. This checklist walks through what a Canadian LTC home should hold on a weekly basis, with the quantities and specifications that actually matter.
Why the Weekly Stock Matters
Infection control in long-term care is a continuous operation, not an event. Residents share common spaces, many have compromised immune systems, and care tasks happen around the clock. Provincial guidance across Canada, aligned with Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) recommendations, expects homes to keep enough PPE on hand to maintain contact and droplet precautions for every resident at all times. Running out of gloves mid-shift is not an option, so homes set weekly par levels and restock on a schedule.
The Weekly Checklist
Hand Hygiene Supplies
Alcohol-based hand rub belongs at every point of care, in each resident room, and at every nursing station. A typical home budgets one 500 mL pump bottle per two residents per week, plus refillable wall dispensers. Plain soap and paper towels complete the handwashing stations. Check dispensers at every shift change; empty is the same as absent.
PPE: Gloves, Gowns, Masks
Nitrile gloves are the highest-volume PPE item in a home. Plan for 40 to 60 pairs per resident per week across care tasks, which translates to roughly 12 to 15 boxes of 100 per week for a 100-bed home, and powder-free, latex-free nitrile is the standard. For gowns, keep a stock of isolation gowns rated Level 2 or higher, like the CliniEco Medical Isolation Gown SMMS 40GSM Level 2 Protection 50 Pack, for contact precautions, wound care, and outbreak response. Masks follow provincial ratios: typically a box of 50 procedural masks per 10 residents per week at baseline, doubled or tripled when respiratory illness season hits.
Incontinence and Personal Care
Incontinence products are the quiet giant of LTC supply budgets. A home typically uses 4 to 6 briefs per resident per day, which puts a 60-pack box of adult briefs at roughly one box per resident per week. The CliniEco Medical Adult Incontinence Briefs 60 Pack M L covers that cadence at a predictable per-unit cost. Add barrier cream, wipes, and disposable washcloths to the same order so care aides never have to improvise.
Waste and Laundry
Biohazard waste bags sized for clinical waste, with red 30-gallon bags being the common standard in Canadian facilities, need to be stocked in every dirty utility room and medication room. The CliniEco Biohazard Medical Waste Bags Red 30 Gallon Leak Proof are a typical pick for this station. Sharps containers get replaced when two-thirds full, and regular trash liners round out the cart.
Quantities and Reorder Points
Set reorder points at two weeks of average use, not one. A home that burns through its weekly stock exactly on schedule has zero buffer when a delivery slips or a norovirus wave doubles demand. Track consumption per resident per week, review the numbers monthly, and adjust the par level by 10 to 15 percent instead of reacting to one busy week.
Compliance Notes for Canadian Homes
Homes in Canada answer to provincial inspection frameworks built on PHAC guidance and CSA Group standards for long-term care. Documentation matters: keep purchase records, expiry tracking, and PPE inventory logs so an inspector can see the supply chain at a glance. Medical gloves in Canada are regulated medical devices, and Health Canada expects compliant labeling, which includes the applicable standard such as ASTM D6319 for nitrile exam gloves. Buy from suppliers who can provide certificates of analysis on request; that paperwork is cheap insurance during an audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much PPE does a long-term care home need per week? A typical 100-bed home goes through roughly 12 to 15 boxes of 100 nitrile gloves, 10 to 20 boxes of 50 masks, and 15 to 25 packs of isolation gowns per week, depending on outbreak status.
Which gloves are recommended for LTC staff? Powder-free, latex-free nitrile exam gloves meeting ASTM D6319 are the standard recommendation for care tasks in Canadian long-term care homes.
What is the right way to store isolation gowns? Keep them in their original packaging in a clean, dry area away from direct sunlight and chemicals, and rotate stock by expiry date. CliniEco's Level 2 gowns (SKU: CEG-GWN2-50) ship in 50-pack cases that fit standard supply shelving.
Do incontinence briefs need to be ordered separately from medical supplies? In practice they go on the same schedule, since care aides need both at the same moment. Bundling briefs, wipes, and barrier cream into one weekly order reduces stockouts.
Related reading: explore our infection control resources for clinics.
decode HAI, SSI, CJD and MDRO acronyms in our infection control pillar article.
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