STEGH on the Web - C Difficile

C. difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) Rate Reporting

C. difficile is one of the many types of bacteria that can be found in feces (bowel movement), and has been a known cause of health care-associated diarrhea for about 30 years. Learn more about C. difficile...

STEGH posts its infection rates online on a monthly basis with new information posted on our site, and on the Ministry’s website, on the last day of every month, beginning September 26, 2008. Public reporting of our hospital’s C. difficile rates will allow us to establish a baseline from which we can then track our rates over time. If we feel our rates have risen above our baseline, we can look internally at our hospital’s processes, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to reduce the incidence of C. difficile in our organization. Public reporting of C. difficile rates is another, helpful measure to ensure the care provided to our patients is even safer, and improves over time.

The C. difficile infection rate is calculated as a rate per 1,000 patient days. The "total patient days" represents the sum of the number of days during which services were provided to all inpatients during the given time period.

The rate is calculated as follows:

Number of new hospital acquired cases of C. difficile in our facility x 1000

Total number of patient days (for one month)

What are hospital-acquired cases?

Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. These are called hospital-acquired infections. In the case of C. difficile, this may mean that symptoms began 72 hours after admission to the hospital; or that the infection was present at the time of admission but was related to a previous admission to that hospital within the last four weeks.

STEGH C. difficile Rates as Reported to the Ministry

Jan 2010 Feb
2010 March
2010 April
2010 May
2010 June 2010

# of new cases
of C. difficile
<5 0 0 <5 <5 <5

C. difficile Rate
.24 0 0 .26 .26 .26

View 2009 Rates

View 2008 Rates

All Ontario hospitals now report their C. difficile rates monthly. STEGH reported zero (0) new cases to the MOHLTC in August, however, we recognized that the absence of C. difficile in our Hospital is not necessarily our norm. STEGH reported < 5 cases for September. (The number < 5 was chosen by the MOHLTC to depict new cases from 1 - 4 to protect the privacy of our patients.) At any point in time, it is not unusual for STEGH, or any other hospital in the country to report the presence of C. difficile in their facility. At STEGH, we continue to monitor all cases of C. difficile in our Hospital and we have numerous infection control processes in place to minimize the risk of infection spreading to other patients. We continue to work together to reduce all hospital acquired infections, including C. difficile.

Visit the Ministry of Health Care and Long-Term Care website to view other hospital's rates

If you have any questions about this information or about our hospital’s infection prevention and control program, please contact us .

Learn More About C. difficile

Infection Prevention and Control at STEGH

STEGH - Working hard to manage the spread of C. difficile

Unfortunately, like many hospitals in Ontario our size, on any given day, STEGH likely has patients in isolation with infectious diseases such as C. difficile. Our focus on patient and staff safety includes a concerted effort in preventing and managing C. difficile in this facility.

The STEGH Infection Control Committee has supported and recommended a number of strategies to minimize risk as outlined in our policies and procedures.

STEGH uses multiple controls to prevent the spread of C. difficile, which includes but is not limited to:

Hand hygiene facilitation: Alcohol based hand rub (ABHR) has been strategically placed at Point of Care within the patient’s environment so that all care providers can easily access it. STEGH participated in the MOHLTC Just Clean Your Hands pilot and continues to emphasize hand hygiene practice as one of the key components to prevent spread.
Education: STEGH staff has been educated on the procedure for managing C. difficile which is based on the Provincial Infectious Disease Advisory Committee’s (PIDAC) C. difficile Best Practice Guidelines. Infection Control practices are audited on a regular basis.
Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): The use of PPE (gown, and gloves) is required by all who enter the patient environment.
Isolation requirements: Our control measures include appropriate patient placement. Patients with diarrhea will have ‘Enhanced Contact’ isolation signage posted outside their room that reviews all necessary instructions that must be followed by all as they enter and exit the patient room. The isolation signage provides a visible communication tool that prompts enhanced environmental cleaning.
Tracking Patient Care Needs: The health care team reviews each patient with C. difficile symptoms daily, to determine the patient’s response to treatment and to alter care as required.
Environmental cleaning is ongoing using recommended germicides.
- STEGH conducts twice-daily room cleaning for patients requiring Enhanced Contact Precautions.
- A new sporacidal agent is part of the new cleaning practices. This cleaner is used to clean all components of the patient environment.
- Our cleaning staff is well trained and is dedicated to keeping our hospital clean and safe for our patients.

Ongoing audits of the management of C. difficile.