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September 26, 2009
 Starting
on Friday, September 26th, the first province-wide, public
release of C.difficile rates for Ontario hospitals will occur.
TBRHSC will post monthly C.difficile data relating to cases
and rates on our website, while the Ministry of Health and
Long-Term care posts the numbers and rates for all hospitals
on their public website.
Public reporting of C.difficile rates is the first of eight
new patient safety indicators that will be publicly reported
over the next few months. TBRHSC strongly supports this public
reporting regime as we believe it will inspire improved performance,
enhance patient safety and strengthen public confidence in
Ontario’s hospitals.
It is important to report that TBRHSC is not
currently in an outbreak situation.
Public reporting of our infection rates is important as it
will allow for us to work with a standardized approach across
the province. Prior to this, hospitals may have been using
different definitions for what constitutes a hospital-acquired
infection resulting in a vast difference in reported infection
rates.
Gathering of C.difficile rates is not something new to TBRHSC.
We have been conducting surveillance for this organism for
a number of years and reflect the Provincial Infectious Diseases
Advisory Committee’s (PIDAC) best practice document
for the management of C. difficile in our policies and procedures.
Where does C. difficile come from?
C.difficile is not a new organism. Although people may associate
it with health care settings, it doesn’t come from hospitals,
long-term care homes or laboratories. It is widely distributed
in the environment and can be found in the human intestine,
occurring naturally in 3-5% of adults (more commonly in the
elderly) without causing symptoms. On any given day, TBRHSC
will in all likelihood have patients in isolation with infectious
diseases such as C. difficile.
Our partnership strategies:
TBRHSC has many strategies in place to reduce the spread
of healthcare-acquired C. difficile. Our Infection Prevention
and Control Department currently has three people dedicated
to infectious disease prevention and control. With our newer
facility, we are fortunate to have hand-washing sinks in every
patient room. Continuous promotion of hand hygiene for visitors,
patients and staff is ongoing with alcohol-based hand sanitizers
prominent throughout the facility. Environmental cleaning
is ongoing with well-trained and dedicated housekeepers ensuring
a twice daily room cleaning for all patients requiring additional
isolation precautions. TBRHSC stresses that good hand-washing
by everyone is the single-most effective way to prevent the
spread of any infectious disease such as C. difficile.
Our commitment:
What will we report starting on September 26th?
Along with all of Ontario’s hospitals, we will be publicly
reporting our C.difficile
status on our website on two criteria:
- Rates of new hospital-acquired C.difficile cases at
TBRHSC; and
- The number of new hospital-acquired C.difficile cases
at TBRHSC.
The Ministry will also report the same information on it’s
website, at www.ontario.ca/patientsafety.
How the C.difficile rates are calculated:
The exclusion criteria for the data (excluded from the numerator
and denominator) are children under one year. All other patients
(e.g. mental health and rehab) would be included.
What if a higher number of cases of C. difficile
are reported? Does this mean the chances of catching C. difficile
or other hospital-acquired infection is higher, or that TBRHSC
is unsafe?
Patients should know that TBRHSC is safe, that the care you
receive here is top-notch, and that every effort – on
behalf of everyone of us – is to ensure you receive
the highest quality of care possible.
Public reporting of C. difficile rates is another,
helpful measure to ensure the care provided to you is even
safer, and improves over time. It provides a snapshot of what
has happened with respect to one infection – C. difficile
– over a certain period of time.
A high number of C. difficile cases in a one-month period
does not necessarily mean that TBRHSC is “unsafe”;
a lower number of cases in a one-month period does not necessarily
mean that TBRHSC is “safe”. Infection control
is complex. C. difficile rates must be viewed in the context
of other performance indicators. The analysis of our C. difficile
rates will enable us to make quality improvements.
::
TBRHSC Patient Safety Indicators ::
::
C. difficile FAQ ::
::
C. difficile background ::
:: back to Media Releases ::
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