Surveillance
People who are in hospital are at greater risk of developing infections for a variety of reasons.
These include:
- a weakened immune system;
- increased use of antibiotics;
- surgical and medical procedures that cause breaks in the skin; and
- transmission of bacteria from one person to another due to close contact with other patients and health-care workers.
The Infection Prevention and Control program monitors for infections throughout the organization as a part of ongoing initiatives to improve patient safety.
Several patient safety indicators that are tracked and reported on a quarterly basis by Eastern Health include:
- Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)
- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)
- Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE)
Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI): an infection that develops during the course of a hospital stay.
Surveillance Statistics for HAIs
Table 1: Rate of healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) per 10,000 patient/resident days by fiscal quarter
Fiscal Quarter | Q2 2022/23 | Q3 2022/23 | Q4 2022/23 | Q1 2023/24 |
Acute Care | 3.20 | 1.75 | 2.30 | 1.93 |
Long Term Care | 0.07 | 0.22 | 0.08 | 0 |
Note: Most recent rate of healthcare-associated CDI in acute care (2020) was 3.80 per 10,000 patient days (Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program, 2022).
Table 2: Rate of healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) per 10,000 patient/resident days by fiscal year
Fiscal Year | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Acute Care | 3.00 | 3.69 | 2.81 | 2.83 | 2.54 |
Long Term Care | 0.12 | 0.10 | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.13 |
Note: Most recent rate of healthcare-associated CDI in acute care (2020) was 3.80 per 10,000 patient days (Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program, 2022).
Table 3: Rate of healthcare-associated Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection per 10,000 patient/resident days by fiscal quarter
Fiscal Quarter | Q2 2022/23 | Q3 2022/23 | Q4 2022/23 | Q1 2023/24 |
Acute Care | 1.37 | 1.31 | 1.87 | 1.63 |
Long Term Care | 0.15 | 0.29 | 0.08 | 0.11 |
Note: Most recent national rate of healthcare-associated MRSA in acute care (2017) was 1.65 per 10,000 patient days (Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program, 2019).
Table 4: Rate of healthcare-associated Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection per 10,000 patient/resident days by fiscal year
Fiscal Year | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Acute Care | 2.47 | 2.43 | 2.12 | 1.73 | 1.61 |
Long Term Care | 0.24 | 0.31 | 0.18 | 0.13 | 0.22 |
Note: Most recent national rate of healthcare-associated MRSA in acute care (2017) was 1.65 per 10,000 patient days (Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program, 2019).
Note:
- Rates are a measure of disease frequency in a population. In this case, rates are calculated by dividing the number of cases by the number of patient or resident days and multiplying by 10,000. For example, if there were 2 cases and 1000 patient days, the rate would be 20 per
10, 000 patient days.