HN Infection Control Special Supplement Feb2016

FEBRUARY 2016 HOSPITAL NEWSwww.hospitalnews.com

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Infection control

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HOSPITAL NEWS FEBRUARY 2016 www.hospitalnews.com

C2 Infection Control

n infection prevention and control (IPAC) audit is a sys-tematic, quantifi ed comparison of practice against established

standards of current best practice in order to improve patient care and outcomes. The health care environment has placed increased emphasis on the use of process audits to measure the implementation of policies and procedures relating to IPAC. Key indicators form part of the monitoring of safer healthcare. Audit tools will often detect fl aws in methodology, lapses in per-formance, defi ciencies in training and un-der-resourced programs. The requirement for auditing IPAC in healthcare has always been present but has become critical in

recent years as programs strive to achieve their patient safety goals. IPAC audits are a requirement of Accreditation Canada.

The IPAC Canada Audit Toolkit was developed in 2008 and fi rst published in 2009. The intent of the Toolkit is to provide a centralized repository of audit tools for health care providers and in-fection prevention and control (IPAC) professionals. IPAC Canada’s audit tools monitor IPAC care practices in a variety of practice settings, including acute care, long-term care, community care and pre-hospital care.

IPAC Canada’s Audit Toolkit utilizes current best practices and standards in the development of each audit tool. Audit

tools are compliant with provincial regula-tions, national standards (e.g., Canadian Standards Association), IPAC guidelines from recognized Canadian and interna-tional agencies (e.g., World Health Orga-nization, Public Health Agency of Canada, Centers for Disease Control) and evidence from the published literature. Each audit tool undergoes rigorous stakeholder review by IPAC Canada’s Standards and Guide-lines committee as well as external agen-cies, depending on the content of the tool. For example, audit tools relating to den-tistry have been reviewed by the Canadian Dental Association.

IPAC Canada offers audit tools deal-ing with hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), equipment reprocessing, environmental cleaning, hemodialysis, operating rooms, outbreak management, animal visitation, con-struction and renovation, endoscopy, diagnostic imaging, foot care, perinatol-ogy, pharmacy, respiratory therapy and many other services. The IPAC Canada audit tools are available free of charge to members of IPAC Canada and may be purchased for a fee by non-members. Members can access the audit tools easily from IPAC Canada’s website. Audit tools are available in both an electronic format (results can be entered electronically and saved) or downloaded in a paper format for manual completion.

The Audit Toolkit includes instruc-tions for planning an audit, training an auditor, carrying out an audit, scoring the audit and developing an action plan for improvement and re-auditing. The Audit Toolkit also contains audit forms, use-ful charts and annexes and is completely referenced with a bibliography. All audit tools have been validated and trialed, and are updated on a three-year rotating basis to maintain their currency and applicabil-ity to the workplace. IPAC Canada is cur-rently exploring the use of a mobile app to administer IPAC audits.

Members of IPAC Canada may ac-cess the interactive audit tools at no charge. Non-members may contact IPAC Canada to purchase a non-in-teractive CD of current audit tools. [email protected]. ■H

IPAC Canada’s Audit Toolkit

An infection prevention and control (IPAC) audit is a systematic, quantifi ed comparison of practice against established standards of current best practice in order to improve patient care and outcomes.

A

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n estimated one in nine Cana-dian patients develops a health-care-associated infection during his or her hospital stay – a total

of 220,000 patients per year. Further, an es-timated 8,000 Canadians will lose their lives from these infections every year” (Zoutman et al, 2003). The cost of infections – more than $100 million annually in healthcare spending to treat C. diffi cile, MRSA and surgical site infections alone, plus tremen-dous emotional and fi nancial tolls on pa-tients, families and healthcare organizations – barely stirs a response (Njoo, 2014).

It is the infection prevention and con-trol professional (ICP) who is on the front line of patient and staff safety across the continuum of care.

The role of the ICP across Canada has continually evolved over the last 40 years. As the professional organization for ICPs in Canada, IPAC Canada has also evolved. Today, we support over 1650 members and their colleagues with from varied disciplines, including nurses, medical laboratory techni-cians, physicians, public health inspectors, epidemiologists, medical device reprocess-ing technicians, housekeeping, administra-tion and industry representatives. ICPs are responsible for providing a safe space for patients and working with occupational health and safety professionals to ensure a safe place for staff to care for our patients.

Where the role of the ICP was once to only initiate and remove isolation precau-

tions and collect infection surveillance data, the ICP has become much more involved in the day to day operations of healthcare organizations, particularly in hospitals. The collaboration between clini-cal care areas as well as facilities and en-vironmental services, food services, and interprofessional teams is essential to the success of a comprehensive infection pre-vention and control program. The ICP will be involved in internal policy and proce-dure development, education, both formal and informal, routine patient assessments, engagement in cleaning products and pro-tocols, extensive risk assessments, review of construction and renovation, health-care associated infection surveillance and reporting, quality improvement projects, root cause analysis, and accreditation. In addition, ICPs are responsible for develop-ing and maintaining partnerships with ex-ternal stakeholders at the local, provincial, and national levels.

The international outbreak of SARS highlighted the need for healthcare organi-zation capacity to react to emerging viruses and threats to our system. While some re-gions saw more attention and resources given to infection prevention and control (IP&C) programs across the country, many IP&C teams (or in many cases, a solo prac-titioner) wish they could do more. The H1N1 infl uenza pandemic in 2009 and the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa again brought attention to IP&C across

the world. ICPs know that an increase in international travel and the indiscriminate use of antimicrobials will contribute to further IP&C emergencies, situations we must have the capacity and resources to be able to respond to and manage.

ICP’s must remain up to date on best practice guidelines from leading organiza-tions such as IPAC Canada, the Canadian Standards Association, Ontario’s Provin-cial Infectious Diseases Advisory Com-mittee, BC’s Centre for Disease Control, provincial ministries of health, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Safer Health-care Now!, and the Canadian Patient Safety Association to ensure a consistent evidence-based approach to providing safe patient care.

One of the most valuable roles of an ICP is education: to patients, their family, and to staff. Being able to be present in clinical care and support services areas to observe practices with a trained eye can provide an immense amount of information which is not only rolled up to the organization but also provides real-time feedback to staff.

As we continue to work in an evolving profession, we look forward to having new tools available to ICPs to be better able to provide a safe care environment. Emerging technologies are available to support ICPs to be able to spend less time investigating individual cases, allowing practitioners to spend more time at the front-line. Ensuring that staffi ng models are based on a compre-

hensive risk assessment balancing fi nances, baseline organization epidemiology, re-quired and/or legislated performance mea-sures, and compliance with best practice guidelines are essential to ensuring that the infection prevention and control team is able to build organizational capacity and provide the highest level of care possible.

IPAC Canada, its members, partners and colleagues have seen the vision of better healthcare for all Canadians. That quality of life and care will be ensured through the vigilance of ICPs across the continuum of care. ■H

Sincerely, Michael Rotstein RN MHSc CIC CHE Director, IPAC Canada

Representing infection prevention and control professionalsIPAC Canada “A IPAC Canada celebrates its 40th

Anniversary in 2016. From a small networking organization for ICPs, we have grown to a strong national communication, education and networking professional association. Our members come from varied backgrounds, including nursing, microbiology, epidemiology, medical laboratory technology, and pre-hospital care, as well as other disciplines interested in reducing the risk of healthcare-acquired infections. We thank Hospital News for sharing our story.

FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUESIPAC Canada is a multidisciplinary professional association of those engaged in the prevention and control of infections in all healthcare settings.

IPAC Canada represents its members in the pursuit of patient and staff safety and in the promotion of best infection prevention and control practices. We work regularly with other professional associations and regulatory bodies to develop guidelines.

Our members come from across the continuum of care. Visit our website www.ipac-canada.org to see the many benefits and resources that are available to members.

INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL CANADA (IPAC CANADA)

[email protected] | www.georgianct.com | 1.866.999.7111

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t has been almost 13 years since SARS struck Ontario, yet in many ways the impact is still being felt – this most

poignantly in the area of infection preven-tion and control. Prior to 2003, few people knew the role of infection prevention and control in health care settings. Often, pro-fessionals working in the fi eld were relegat-ed to the far corners of hospital basements and rarely had a voice. Worse still, in other settings such as long-term care, no re-sources could be found. Public Health had its mandate regarding reportable diseases and outbreaks, but this was siloed from infection prevention and control in other parts of the health care system.

Then came SARS. It highlighted in painful ways how little attention was paid to infection prevention and control, and how little investment had been made in Public Health. It was a turning point that launched a new world for infection prevention and control. The number of jobs for infection prevention and control professionals increased dramatically. In-fection prevention and control became a mandated program in long-term care facili-ties in some provinces. Core competency in infection prevention and control be-came a topic of interest, and competencies

were defi ned. The US based certifi cation in Infection control (CIC®) designation became a sought after and often required qualifi cation for employment. Physician

leaders in infection prevention and control emerged. Dialogue between facility-based infection prevention and control programs and Public Health became a regular occur-rence. Linkages with community providers were established, particularly in provinces that have some degree of regionalization in the delivery of health care services.

One of the most profound advances to come from SARS was the establishment and broad acceptance of best practices in infection prevention and control. In On-tario, the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) was es-tablished, fi lling a long standing dearth of evidence based expert guidelines. Indeed, PIDAC best practice documents are now used across the country. A second was the emergence of hand hygiene as a key imper-ative. A third was the creation or expan-sion of dedicated government- funded bod-ies with infection prevention and control included in their mandate, such as Public Health Ontario, the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Institut national santé publique de Quebec. Finally, IPAC Canada (formerly CHICA Canada) became a not-ed national body supporting the profession of infection prevention and control.

Infection prevention and control has also become a player at senior leadership tables, where we now take part in important de-cisions including how our hospitals should be designed and built. We have become pivotal players in the burgeoning world of patient safety. Infection prevention and control indicators now appear in provin-cial mandatory reporting regimes. Infection prevention and control has grown up.

We now need to look to the future, to what infection prevention and control could become. Infection prevention and control has historically been rooted in the collection and reporting of surveillance data. While surveillance is still a crucial role, infection prevention and control pro-fessionals and physicians now have an op-portunity to maximize their involvement

in patient safety. This includes stepping into the world of behavioural and culture change. Indeed, this is the new horizon of patient safety. We also can and should be-come key partners in the critical area of an-timicrobial stewardship. With new and ex-citing technological advances, tasks such as hand hygiene and data collection and anal-ysis can become increasingly automated, freeing us to broaden our roles. Web-based resources will allow us to effectively share information and knowledge, so that we can become a broader community outside of our designated facilities, including into community settings. Establishing infection prevention and control training within medical residency programs and creating opportunities for direct physician experi-ence in infection prevention and control will strengthen links with physicians.

Infection prevention and control profes-sionals and physicians have become an in-dispensable part of the healthcare landscape.

In an era of healthcare reductions and restraint, it is imperative infection con-trol resources are not lost – at the peril of another SARS-like situation. As patient safety and quality become increasingly im-portant, healthcare imperatives, the role and responsibilities of infection preven-tion and control professionals, will only increase. Many infection prevention and control programs are under resourced and it behooves organizational decision makers to ensure that critical human and techno-logical resources are in place.

Hopefully the momentum created by SARS will continue well into the future. ■H

Camille Lemieux BScPhm MD LLB CIC is Director, Infection Prevention and Control Canada.

By Camille Lemieux

We now need to look to the future, to what infection prevention and control could become.

I

Infection prevention and control in the 21st Century:

Growing after SARS

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hile in hospital, patients expect their health care professionals to get them on the road to re-covery. What they do not ex-

pect is to be exposed to an infection that could compromise their progress. To help avoid the spread of infl uenza, Runnymede Healthcare Centre runs a fl u shot campaign each year that encourages vaccination for all patients, staff and volunteers. The effec-tiveness of the campaign has distinguished Runnymede as a leader among its peers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

According to the Government of On-tario, the fl u vaccine is the best defence against the infl uenza virus. Despite this, there are challenges to having all health care staff take this important precaution-ary step. One obstacle is the wide availabil-ity of misinformation about the vaccine, which leads some to be skeptical about its effectiveness and safety. Another obstacle faced by some health care workers is simply not having convenient and timely access to the fl u shot.

These challenges are refl ected in the numbers. For the 2014/2015 fl u season, Public Health Ontario reported that the median Ontario hospital staff vaccina-tion rate was just 60.5 per cent. However, for the same fl u season Runnymede’s staff

participation was 80 per cent, an achieve-ment that placed it second among its GTA peer hospitals. At the midpoint of the

2015/2016 fl u season, the hospital’s staff vaccination rate was even more impres-sive, at 86 per cent. How did Runnymede build and sustain such a successful record of participation?

The answer has everything to do with the hospital’s strong culture of patient safety, which inspired the creation of a fl u shot campaign committee. Comprised of staff from infection control, human resources and occupational health and safety, the committee’s strategies help clear the obstacles that prevent staff from getting vaccinated. “We don’t reach our immunization goals by simply telling ev-eryone, ‘get your fl u shots,’ ” says Runny-mede Chief Nursing Executive & Chief Privacy Offi cer, Raj Sewda. “Instead, our mandate is to create awareness about fl u season, provide education about the im-portance of the fl u shot, and then give staff every opportunity to act on their own and get the vaccine.”

Awareness about Runnymede’s fl u shot campaign is generated early each season. By tying its offi cial launch to the hospi-tal’s popular Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Week celebrations in October, the campaign has high visibility. The IPAC Week open house that Runny-mede hosts features engaging and inter-active infection prevention sessions, and the vaccine is made available to everyone who attends.

The weeks that follow build on the mo-mentum of this event. In addition to hospi-tal-wide messaging through email, intranet and bulletin boards, the committee takes a hands-on approach to reaching all staff. “We make regular visits to departments throughout the hospital,” says Catherine Fitzpatrick, associate director of nursing and committee member. “By meeting with staff right where they work and providing trustworthy and evidence-based answers to their questions, we help to shape posi-tive attitudes about the vaccine.”

For the campaign to be successful, education needs to be accompanied by timely and convenient access to the vac-cine. In addition to its regular availability in Runnymede’s occupational health de-partment, a mobile fl u shot clinic is also dispatched. Staff are notifi ed in advance about when the mobile clinic will be in their area of the hospital.

During the campaign, the occupational health and safety team maintains up-to-date vaccination records by department, and the percentages of staff vaccinations are reviewed regularly by the committee to evaluate the hospital’s progress. De-partments with low participation rates are identifi ed, and the committee responds by tailoring additional education and mo-bile clinic access for staff in these areas. Prize incentives for departments with the highest vaccination rates are positively re-ceived and may also be introduced.

At the campaign’s conclusion, the com-mittee looks back on their efforts to review lessons learned. “This is an important part of the process because in the future, we don’t want to be repeating outreach efforts that weren’t effective,” says Fitzpatrick. “By the same token, we also need to rec-ognize which efforts did work well, so that we can incorporate them into next year’s campaign and build on our success.”

Runnymede takes the health of its pa-tients, staff, volunteers and visitors very seriously. The hospital’s fi rm commitment to its annual fl u shot campaigns demon-strates this. “Making educational resources and the vaccine very accessible has a posi-tive impact,” says Sewda. “Informing and reminding our staff and volunteers about how important the fl u shot is in main-taining not just their own health, but the health and safety of our patients is a mes-sage that really resonates here.” ■H

Michael Oreskovich is a Communications Specialist at Runnymede Healthcare Centre.

By Michael Oreskovich

L to R: Danka Varda, Catherine Fitzpatrick, Janki Patel and Dechen Chhakpa promote the fl u shot at Runnymede’s IPAC Week celebrations in October.

Runnymede staff roll uptheir sleeves to protect patients

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ccurrences of nosocomial in-fections attract media atten-tion, create public tension, and ignite political debates. Serious

outbreaks are startling reminders that in-fection prevention and control (IPC) is an evolving fi eld, and that we are continu-ously learning how to prevent or mitigate the impact of these health care-associated infections.

At Accreditation Canada, we support health care quality through the applica-tion of national standards of excellence. Beginning in January of last year, an up-dated version of our IPC standards has been used in our clients’ on-site surveys, contributing to raising the baseline per-formance in IPC across Canada. The standards refl ect a collaborative approach that promotes working with environmen-tal services to support the IPC program. The revisions include having a multi-fac-eted strategy for education, and engaging staff members to help increase compli-ance with IPC practices.

One of the signifi cant ways in which we support best practices and national stan-dards across Canada is through our Lead-ing Practices Database. This database in-cludes nearly 1,000 practices recognized as being particularly innovative and effective in improving quality.

Here is one example of a Leading Prac-tice that demonstrates how infection control can be improved and nosocomial infections reduced through targeted edu-cation and standardized evaluation.

Leading Practice: Environmental Service Educator Role

Spanning 1,000,000 square feet, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie, Ontario, is a 319 inpatient bed facility with outpatient services ranging from speech and hearing to chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and also serves as a medical teaching facility.

In 2012, Rob Purdy, Operations Di-rector, Facilities and Food Services and Rosalyn Rowe, Manager, Environmental Services, developed a new role of environ-mental services (EVS) educator at RVH. This position is responsible for provid-ing ongoing education to EVS staff and building tools and processes to evaluate their compliance with EVS policies and procedures. The EVS educator works

collaboratively with all areas within the health care facility and the Local Health Integration Network to ensure RVH EVS policies are aligned with provincial and national best practices.

Having this designated team member educating frontline staff about the impor-tance of effective cleaning and disinfecting has made an impact on the auditing results. In July 2012, when environmental auditing began, the touch point compliance rate av-eraged 76.1 per cent. A year later the rate rose to 82.8 per cent and by July 2014 was 91.1 per cent. Environmental auditing entails the physical placement of fl uores-cent lotion on a surface within the patient environment. To achieve a “pass” on the touch point all the lotion must have been removed in the cleaning process.

EVS staff are more engaged in and have greater ownership of infection control for each of their departments. The EVS edu-cator is part of a multipronged approach that includes antimicrobial stewardship, hand hygiene, effective cleaning, and dis-infection. Since its creation there has been a reduction in nosocomial infections and no clostridium diffi cile outbreaks within the facility.

Developing an IPC program that en-courages contributions from across the or-ganization contributes to its success. The literature shows that well-designed IPC programs are cost-effective because they reduce health care-associated infections, shorten the length of hospital stays, and decrease the cost of treating health care-associated infections. ■H

Jil Beardmore, Sandra Morrison, Tanya MacDonald and Diana Sarakbi work at Ac-creditation Canada.

Developing an Infection Prevention and Control program that encourages contributions from across the organization contributes to its success.

Educating and evaluating to

O

Royal Victoria Hospital staff know the importance of effective cleaning and disinfecting and the impact it has had on the auditing results.

Improve infection prevention and control

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Sunday, May 15, 20169:00 am–12 noon

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Infection Control in the Dialysis Setting



Infection Prevention and Control Canada (IPAC Cana-da)/Prévention et contrôle des infections Canada (PCI Cana-

da) is a national, multi-disciplinary, volun-tary professional association uniting those with an interest in infection prevention and control in Canada. IPAC Canada has over 1650 members in 21 chapters across the country. All our members and partners are dedicated to the health of Canadians by promoting excellence in the practice of infection prevention and control.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, IPAC

Canada was incorporated as the Association for Professionals in Infection Control Cana-da in 1976 eventually becoming Community and Hospital Infection Control Association (CHICA Canada) in 1985 and IPAC Can-ada in 2014. IPAC Canada is committed to the wellness and safety of Canadians by pro-moting best practice in infection prevention and control through education, standards, advocacy and consumer awareness. We do this through the provision of re-sources, education opportunities and collaboration with partner stakeholders.

BEST PRACTICESThe practice experts in our Standards

& Guidelines Committee develop and re-view infection prevention and control best practice documents. The resources are often position statements or practice rec-ommendations that have been initiated by our interest groups. Current position state-ments and practice recommendations can be found at www.ipac-canada.org

Of signifi cant note is the availability of over 40 infection prevention and con-trol audit tools for various departments. The Audit Tool resource includes pre-audit preparation, instructions for com-pleting audit tools, scoring information and feedback requirements (Closing the Loop). Available at no cost to IPAC Can-ada members, non-members may purchase non-interactive tools.

IPAC CanadaWorking together for better healthcareM

Infection Control Week activities that took place at various hospitals



IPAC Canada hosts an annual National Infection Control Week (NICW) (the third full week in October). The 2016 theme honours infection prevention and control professionals (ICPs) through the theme: ICPs – The Core of Infection Pre-vention and Control”. NICW dates are October 17-21, 2016.

COLLABORATIONIPAC Canada works closely with exter-

nal stakeholders to further the practice of infection prevention and control. Recent collaborations include:• Accreditation Canada – IPAC Cana-

da participated in the engagement of working groups to develop education in Acute Care and Long Term Care. IPAC Canada members are active par-ticipants on the Accreditation Cana-da Infection Prevention and Control Advisory Committee

• Accreditation Canada International (ACI) – IPAC Canada reviewed the cur-

riculum for the novice program deliv-ered by ACI outside of North America. We were also instrumental in recruit-ing experts to provide assistance in the Middle East and Africa with the recent MERS-CoV and Ebola outbreaks.

• Canadian Patient Safety Institute – IPAC Canada is an active participant in the development and information distri-bution of the Stop! Clean Your Hands and Patient Safety Week campaigns. It is also a leader in the realization of the infection prevention and control objec-tives of the National Integrated Patient Safety Action Plan.

• International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC) – IFIC is an international body that provides education and com-munication support to worldwide infec-tion prevention and control communi-ties. In partnership with Sage Products LLC, IPAC Canada offers an annual scholarship to assist ICPs from under-resourced countries to attend the annual IFIC conference.

• Royal College of Physicians and Sur-geons of Canada – An IPAC Canada expert review ptanel to assisted the Col-lege in the development of Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) educational projects.

EDUCATION With an Education Committee com-

prised of education experts and chapter representatives, and a nationally appoint-ed conference scientifi c program commit-tee, IPAC Canada provides its members and colleagues with signifi cant education opportunities to enhance their continuing professional education and ultimately bet-ter practice.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, IPAC Canada was incorporated as the Association for Professionals in Infection Control Canada in 1976 eventually becoming Community and Hospital Infection Control Association (CHICA Canada) in 1985 and IPAC Canada in 2014.

Continued from page C10

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Mattress costs vary, and average around $ 700.00 per standard patient bed. Given the typical damage rate, the total mattress defi cit can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Through careful inspection and condition assess-ment, the company has found that up to 68% of dam-aged mattresses can be repaired, rather than replaced; saving tens of thousands of tax payer dollars.

“Extending the life of a mattress with a patch that is proven to seal the surface and won’t come off during use or cleaning, is an eff ective, practical and very Canadian solution”, says Hansen.

Hygiene Performance Solutions (Mississauga, Ontario) provides Mat-tress Integrity Assessment (MIA) Service which Leverage Your Existing Spend™ to improve safety, enhance comfort and avoid cost.

For further information contact HPS at: [email protected] or 905-361-8749, or visit www.hygieneperformancesolutions.com/mattress-integrity-assessment

“MATTRESSES AND PROCEDURE PADS ARE THE WORKHORSE OF A

HEALTHCARE FACILITY”BRAD HANSEN

MANAGER BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTHYGIENE PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS




esearch shows that an active fl u season often results in addi-tional Emergency Department visits, causing increased wait

times for patients and placing added strain on health care resources. During last year’s fl u season, there were 1,378 cases of infl u-enza reported in the region of Peel – one of the busiest seasons to date. At Missis-sauga’s Trillium Health Partners, fl u-relat-ed Emergency Department visits increased by 68 per cent during last year’s fl u season. Hospital patients who are also residents in a long-term care home can face increased risks during fl u season, especially when

the home they live in is experiencing an outbreak of fl u or other illness among its residents. To support residents returning to their respective long-term care home from hospital during an outbreak period, Trilli-um Health Partners initiated the Outbreak Task Force for Repatriation During Out-breaks, a collaborative partnership among key health care providers in its region.

As part of its mandate to support safe discharge for residents returning to a home where there is an outbreak, the joint task force created a comprehensive Repatria-tion Toolkit supporting discharge deci-sions, including a care pathway to ensure that residents who could return to their long-term care home will be able to do

so. The toolkit facilitates communication between all partners, including patients and families, helping them to understand discharge risks and benefi ts, and includes an infection prevention assessment prior to the patient’s discharge. As part of this year’s fl u season preparedness, the col-laborative task force holds weekly meet-ings to allow for real-time adjustment and problem solving of any system-wide issues that might impact a resident’s discharge to long-term care homes within the region.

“Many common illnesses are easily transmitted in an institutional environ-ment. Through the joint task force, we’ve been better able to assess risks and pro-vide support to ensure appropriate infec-tion control measures are in place and sustained, such as ensuring private room placement, availability of personal protec-tive equipment (PPE) or administration

of prophylaxis like Tamifl u, prior to a pa-tient’s discharge. This helps ensure resi-dents returning home can do so as safely as possible, and reduces their chances of further illness, while also preventing trans-mission,” says Marianita Lampitoc, Man-ager, Infection Prevention & Control, Tril-lium Health Partners.

Launched as a pilot in the Spring of 2015, the joint task force is comprised of Trillium Health Partners’ three-site hos-pital, Sienna Senior Living, the Region of Peel Public Health and the Mississauga-Halton Local Health Integration Network (MH LHIN). The Nurse Practitioners Supporting Teams Averting Transfers (NP STAT), a LHIN initiative dedicated to minimizing health risks for frail seniors by supporting their transfers between a

hospital emergency department and their long-term care home, is also supporting the joint task force. Additional partners in-clude Halton Health Care, Halton Region Public Health and Toronto Public Health.

“During last year’s outbreak season, we noticed that many patients who were ready to go home were waiting unnecessarily, be-cause the long-term care home they were going back to was experiencing an out-break,” says Amy Persaud, Clinical Educa-tor – Patient Flow, Trillium Health Part-ners. “The repatriation toolkit contains an ethical framework that looks at risks and benefi ts to the resident, to the long-term care home, and to the hospital as well. It helps get everyone on the same page so that a decision to discharge becomes a col-laboration, with the patient’s best interests in mind,” she says.

“The collaboration among various system partners provides the opportunity for each care partner to develop an un-derstanding and an appreciation for each other’s roles. It opens a dialogue that helps each person to see a complete picture and discuss limitations openly from a variety of viewpoints. As a representative of long-term care, I was very appreciative of the opportunity to be heard in a very support-ive environment,” says Barb Ashenhurst, Director Of Care at Sienna Senior Living, Streetsville Care Community.

“There are so many factors affecting repatriation – what’s best for the resident, the cause of the outbreak, infection con-trol practices in the facility and system capacity. As part of the joint task force, I share how public health guidelines govern outbreak management and repatriation of long-term care residents, and identify ar-eas where there could be situational fl ex-ibility,” says Monali Varia, Manager of In-fection Prevention & Surveillance at Peel Public Health.

Supported by learnings from last year’s fl u season, the collaborative approach ini-tiated by the Outbreak Task Force for Re-patriation During Outbreaks continues to benefi t patients and families, and is well positioned to support smoother, faster dis-charges for patients as fl u season peaks in the winter of 2016. ■H

Tackling the fl uBy Ania Basiukiewicz

The outbreak taskforce.

R

Trillium Health Partners collaborate with health care providers in its region

To support residents returning to their respective long-term care home from hospital during an outbreak period, Trillium Health Partners initiated the Outbreak Task Force

Founded in 2006, Hygie® is an innovative company who has been developing, manufacturing and marketing specialized products to efficiently reduce the spread of bacteria, consequently, reduce the risk for infection in health care. We are well established in Canada, in more than 700 health care facilities and in home care. We now offer a full line of hygiene products for outdoor activities and travel. At Hygie Canada, we understand the acute needs of our customers. We offer a range of revolutionary products in the field of hygiene, designed to make life easier for all users.

Our company has distinguished itself from the competition with its patented Hy21® technology. Our products consist of Supports and Hygienic Covers® ca-pable of managing body fluids that are partly responsible for nosocomial in-fections. Our Quebec based company holds patents in 38 countries and we are currently developing the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America markets while continuing to offer outstanding service and reliability to the Canadian market

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Recently, the Education Core Committee presented a series of three webinars on The Art of Teaching which were focused on adult learning. Other webinars on relevant topics are presented regularly.

The IPAC Canada annual education conference is the pre-eminent infection prevention and control conference in Canada. The conference is held annually with an East-West-Central rota-tion.

The conference includes 3.5 days of didactic and workshop presentations by national and in-ternational speakers, as well as a networking opportunity for mem-bers and interest groups.

The 2016 conference will be held in Niagara Falls, Ontario (May 15-18, 2016). The theme is ‘Wisdom Begins with Wonder’.

The IPAC Canada Distance Education Basic Infection Pre-vention and Control program has been identifi ed as the model for online teaching of infection pre-vention and control skills.

This six module, eight-month program provides a basic infec-tion prevention and control curriculum to those who are new to the profession or considering entering the session. Now in its 9th ses-sion, the course educates 50 students

per year and is often a requirement of employment. The IPAC Canada En-dorsement Committee reviews similar programs and endorses them based on a

comparison to the IPAC Canada program.

Since 2012, IPAC Canada has collaborated with Georgian Col-lege and Ycommunicate inc. to deliver an online education tool for all health care workers around the topic of routine practices, hand hy-giene, and risk precautions.

This E-Learning curriculum is designed to assist health care facili-ties train “Front Line” workers in standardized best practices for in-fection prevention and control.

The self-paced, six module cur-riculum includes case studies, simu-lations, narration, video and ques-tions. It is available in both English and French.

Information on the e-learning tool can also be found at www.ipac-canada.org

The Certification Board of Infection Control (CBIC) administers the Certi-fication in Infection Control (CIC®)

examination, and is supported by IPAC Canada. The achievement of the CIC® designation is recognized as assur-ance that the ICP has a full working knowledge of infection prevention and control practice. Many employers now require the CIC® as part of the hiring practice. The English certification exam has been available in Canada for several years; a French certification exam will be launched in 2016.

COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING

There are 21 chapters and 12 interest groups available to members. Chapters provide additional education and network-ing. Interest groups are networking oppor-tunities for specifi c disciplines amongst our members.

The Canadian Journal of Infection Control (CJIC), IPAC Canada’s quarterly journal features research and information articles on the practices of infection pre-vention and control, as well as association news.

The IPAC Canada website (www.ipac-canada.org) is internationally recognized as a trustworthy source of resources and information for the Infection Prevention and Control Professional (ICP), other healthcare workers, and the public. In 2016, the website will undergo a major re-vitalization to increase its effectiveness as a user-friendly, mobile-friendly resource and information vehicle.

For more information about IPAC Can-ada, please see www.ipac-canada.org or contact [email protected] ■H

Better healthcareContinued from page C11

The IPAC Canada annual education conference is the pre-eminent infection prevention and control conference in Canada.

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) are expen-sive, dangerous, and often fatal. This is a very harsh

reality for many healthcare facilities but it doesn’t have to be this way. Research has often shown a direct

link between increased hand hygiene compliance and re-duced HAIs, but being able to properly monitor hand hygiene

improvements can be tough without the right tools. Many facilities are currently struggling with this issue – how to accurately monitor compli-ance to drive these necessary improvements.

Traditionally, direct observation has been the gold standard for hand hy-giene monitoring even though it is widely known that the data generated from this method is vastly flawed. More recently, electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring has become a hot topic in Infection Control, and for good reason.

Modern technology makes many aspects of our lives easier, and hand hy-giene compliance monitoring is no exception. The DebMed GMS system is a scientifically proven compliance monitoring solution for hospitals, capturing 100% of all hand hygiene events, and providing accurate, real-time data, based on the Four Moments for Hand Hygiene – representing a higher clin-ical standard. In fact, by only following the “in and out” philosophy, health-care workers are missing high-risk moments for transmission of bacteria (moments 2 and 3).

The option to automate hand hygiene compliance monitoring is often over-looked by hospital leadership, and sometimes even IPs in the complex hos-pital environment. However, putting such technological advances to work results in multiple benefits including reducing the time needed to track, in-put and report hand hygiene compliance data; driving up compliance rates by giving visibility to true performance data, making hand hygiene a daily priority for hospital staff and ultimately saving lives.

Helping to Reduce HAIs with a

Push of a ButtonGetting To Know BleachBleach based disinfectants are currently seeing a resurgence within healthcare settings due to the advent of ‘super-bugs’

Healthcare™ Professional Disinfecting Bleach Wipes are effective against 46 pathogens with kill times of 1 minute and

minutes.

to use bleach-based disinfectants. This is due to some common misperceptions.

MYTH: Bleach Odour Has Potential Health Consequences And Respiratory Effects

not be a cause for concern as the senso-ry threshold levels for chlorine species are well below any levels recognized to cause respiratory irritation or overt health

chemical reaction that occurs when bleach begins to break down proteins like the ones that make up microorganisms. The more frequently surfaces are disinfected with bleach; the fewer proteins will be on the

lower the odor should be.

MYTH: Using Bleach Will Damage Equipment And Surfaces

and other materials. Use a Health Canada

always refer to MSDS and the appropriate instructions.

To learn more, visit us atwww.cloroxprofessional.ca



When the problems are facility-wide,the solutions have to be .

Learn more at www.cloroxhealthcare.ca © 2015 Clorox Professional Products Company1. S.S. Huang, R. Datta, R. Platt, Archives of Internal Medicine, 2006. 2. B. Koll, American Journal of Infection Control, June 2009.

*Use as directed on hard, nonporous surfaces

Clorox Healthcare® Professional Disinfecting Bleach Products kill C. difficile spores quickly :wipes 3 minutes, liquids 5 minutes and 46 other pathogens like MRSA & VRE in 1 minute*

33% of non-CDI rooms have tested positive for C. difficile.2

55% of high-touch areas in patient rooms have tested positive for C. difficile.2

1

1

®

HN Infection Control Special Supplement Feb2016

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Transcript of HN Infection Control Special Supplement Feb2016