February 8th, 2010
In This Issue:
C. diff Outbreak Guide
Congratulations
Surveillance Tip
Controlling Norovirus
Detecting Norovirus
JCYH for LTC
WEBBER TELECLASSES:
February 11th
International Trends in Sharpes Injury Preventions
February 17th
Influenza H1N1 - The Southern Hemisphere Experience
To view the 2010 scheduleclick here.
SAVE THE DATE:
24th Annual Symposium on Infection Control in Healthcare Facility Design & Construction
Feb 18, 2010
Toronto, ON
Information...
Registration...
CSA - Practical Applications in Infection Control During Construction & Renovation of Healthcare Facilities
March 3-4, 2010
Dundas, ON (CSICN)
Information...
Fifth Decennial Int'nl Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections (SHEA)
March 18-22, 2010
Atlanta, Georgia
Information...
CPSI's 2nd Annual Canada's Forum on Patient Safety and Q.I.
"Improving Safety Across the Continuum"
Apr 12-24, 2010
Toronto, ON
Information...
AMMI Canada - CACMID Annual Conference
May 6-8, 2010
Edmonton, AB
Information...
CHICA-Canada's 2010 National Education Conference:
"Golden Opportunities-Soaring to New Heights"
May 29-Jun 3, 2010
Vancouver, BC
Information...
Comments.
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Information Request.
We'd love to hear from you.
Contact us:
e-mail: askcsicn@hhsc.ca
phone: 905 627-3541
toll-free: 1 866 681-4916
fax: 905 627-6474
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C. diff Outbreak Guide
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care recently release "Control of Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) Outbreaks in Hospitals, A Guide for Hospital and Health Unit Staff." The purpose of this guide is to support the appropriate management of CDI outbreaks by: - Defining the roles of the hospital and public health staff in outbreak control processes;
- Providing specific guidance for CDI outbreak control, and;
- Providing a compilation of tools and resources for management of CDI outbreaks.
Although this guide is primarily intended for hospital infection prevention and control teams and health unit staff, the principles of CDI outbreak management apply to other facilities such as long-term care and retirement homes. To access this guide, click here.
We have yet another successful CIC candidate in our region! Congratulations to Gorette Torre-Clementino from the Hamilton Public Health Services Surveillance Unit. Gorette successfully wrote her CIC exam in October. Way to go Gorette!
Surveillance Tip: Standard Deviation Simplified
PIDACs Best Practices for C. difficile in all Healthcare Settings states that one definition for an outbreak of C. difficile is when your rates are 2 Stadard Deviations above the mean for a period of 2 months. If you're having difficulty determining your mean and standard deviation, here is a handy tool to help you out. Thanks to May Griffiths-Turner for this surveillance tip.
Controlling Norovirus Outbreaks
Norovirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in healthcare facilities during the winter season, and this year is no exception. As we are all too well aware, norovirus is highly infectious and spreads like wildfire from person to person. For some timely tips on the control of norovirus outbreaks, click here. Thanks to Cindy O'Neill from Hamilton Health Sciences for submitting this article.
Norovirus Detection
Norovirus detection is traditionally difficult, laborious and time-consuming. However, the Hamilton Regional Lab Medicine Program is using a real-time detection method that will allow for more rapid detection of norovirus in samples submitted to the lab. For more information, see this article. Thanks to Deborah A. Johnson for this article.
JCYH for LTC
On January 28th we held our first two Just Clean Your Hands for Long-Term Care train-the-trainer workshops. Check out the components of the program on the JCYH for LTC website. Here is the schedule for our next two training dates: 
February 11th AM (Niagara Falls)
February 11th PM (Niagara Falls)
March 9th AM (Brantford)
March 9th PM (Brantford)
If you haven't yet signed up for one of these sessions, click on the dates above to register.
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