scholarly journals Public health investigation of infection prevention and control complaints in Ontario, 2015–2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 289-295
Author(s):  
G Cadieux ◽  
C Brown ◽  
H Sachdeva
2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (12) ◽  
pp. 1963-1973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andi L Shane ◽  
Rajal K Mody ◽  
John A Crump ◽  
Phillip I Tarr ◽  
Theodore S Steiner ◽  
...  

Abstract These guidelines are intended for use by healthcare professionals who care for children and adults with suspected or confirmed infectious diarrhea. They are not intended to replace physician judgement regarding specific patients or clinical or public health situations. This document does not provide detailed recommendations on infection prevention and control aspects related to infectious diarrhea.


Author(s):  
Anna L. Costa ◽  
Gaetano Pierpaolo Privitera ◽  
Giorgio Tulli ◽  
Giulio Toccafondi

AbstractHealthcare-associated infections (HAI) are adverse events exposing patients to a potentially avoidable risk of morbidity and mortality. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is increasingly contributing to the burden of HAIs and emerging as of the most alarming challenges for public health worldwide. Practically, harm mitigation and risk containment demand cross-sectional initiatives incorporate both approaches to infection prevention and control and methodologies from clinical risk management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. s53-s54
Author(s):  
Mohammed Alsuhaibani ◽  
Takaaki Kobayashi ◽  
Stephanie Holley ◽  
Angie Dains ◽  
Oluchi Abosi ◽  
...  

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare systems worldwide, but the impact on infection prevention and control (IPC) programs has not been fully evaluated. We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on IPC consultation requests. Methods: The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics comprises an 811-bed hospital that admits >36,000 patients yearly and >200 outpatient clinics. Questions about IPC can be addressed to the Program of Hospital Epidemiology via e-mail, in person, or through our phone line. We routinely record date and time, call source, reason for the call, and estimated time to resolve questions for all phone line requests. We defined calls during 2018–2019 as the pre–COVID-19 period and calls from January to December 2020 as the COVID-19 period. Results: In total, 6,564 calls were recorded from 2018 to 2020. In the pre–COVID-19 period (2018–2019), we received a median of 71 calls per month (range, 50–119). The most frequent call sources were inpatient units (n = 902; 50%), department of public health (n = 357; 20%), laboratory (n = 171; 9%), and outpatient clinics (n = 120; 7%) (Figure 1). The most common call topics were isolation and precautions (n = 606; 42%), outside institutions requests (n = 324; 22%), environmental and construction (n = 148; 10%), and infection exposures (n = 149; 10%). The most frequent infection-related calls were about tuberculosis (17%), gram-negative organisms (14%), and influenza (9%). During the COVID-19 period, the median monthly call volume increased 500% to 368 per month (range, 149–829). Most (83%) were COVID-19 related. The median monthly number of COVID-19 calls was 302 (range, 45–674). The median monthly number of non–COVID-19 calls decreased to 56 (range, 36–155). The most frequent call sources were inpatient units (57%), outpatient clinics (16%), and the department of public health (5%). Most calls concerned isolation and precautions (50%) and COVID-19 testing (20%). The mean time required to respond to each question was 10 minutes (range, 2–720). The biggest surges in calls during the COVID-19 period were at the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020) and during the hospital peak COVID-19 census (November 2020). Conclusions: In addition to supporting a proactive COVID-19 response, our IPC program experienced a 500% increase in consultation requests. Planning for future bioemergencies should include creative strategies to provide additional resources to increase response capacity within IPC programs.Funding: NoDisclosures: None


2019 ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Geneviève Cadieux ◽  
Abha Bhatnagar ◽  
Tamara Schindeler ◽  
Chatura Prematunge ◽  
Donna Perron ◽  
...  

Background: Under the Health Protection and Promotion Act and Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Complaint Protocol, Ontario public health units are mandated to respond to IPAC complaints about community-based clinical offices. From 2015 to 2018, Ottawa Public Health noted a seven-fold increase in IPAC complaints involving medical and dental settings. In response, we sought to assess the IPAC learning needs of our community-based healthcare providers. Specifically, our objectives were to assess: 1) clinical practice characteristics, 2) current IPAC practices, 3) IPAC knowledge, 4) barriers/facilitators to adherence to IPAC best practices, and 5) preferred IPAC professional development activities. Methods: An anonymous online survey targeting Ottawa community-based healthcare providers was disseminated through multiple methods including through Ottawa Public Health’s (OPH) subscription-based e-bulletin to physicians. The short survey questionnaire included Likert-scale, multiple choice, and open-ended questions. Data collection began in August 2018; a descriptive analysis was conducted using data extracted on January 19, 2019. Results: Our findings suggest that medical respondents may not be as aware of IPAC practices in their clinic as dental respondents were. Familiarity with IPAC best practice documents was also higher among dental respondents, as compared to medical respondents. IPAC knowledge-testing questions revealed that more medical than dental respondents knew the appropriate use of multi-dose vials, and that few medical respondents knew the IPAC best practices for point-of-care glucose monitoring equipment. Respondents recognized the importance of adhering to IPAC best practices to prevent healthcare-associated infections; however, lack of evidence and cost were selfreported barriers to adherence to IPAC best practices. Over half of all medical and dental respondents surveyed were interested in a voluntary audit of their IPAC practices to help meet their IPAC professional development needs. Conclusions: Findings from this needs assessment helped describe current IPAC practices and knowledge, identify barriers and facilitators to adherence to IPAC best practices, and understand the learning preferences of Ottawa community-based healthcare providers. This information will be instrumental in planning future IPAC capacity-building activities and tailoring these activities to specific professional groups in Ottawa and potentially beyond.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-145
Author(s):  
Wellington Pereira Lopes ◽  
Ludmila Ichioka ◽  
Viviane Micheli Amaral ◽  
Glilciane Morceli ◽  
Marselle Nobre Carvalho

No dia 11 de março de 2020 a Organização Mundial da Saúde declarou oficialmente a pandemia da Covid-19. Essa declaração se deu não pela gravidade da patologia, mas pelo grande poder de contágio do vírus causador da doença. Por esse motivo, todos os países se viram frente um novo desafio de saúde mundial tendo a necessidade de se organizar para enfrentar essa nova demanda por meio da criação de novos fluxos, monitoramento interno dos profissionais e pacientes, e monitoramento externo dos mesmos. Além disso, por se tratar de um vírus com novas características, diversas pesquisas foram publicadas em tempo real a pandemia trazendo novas informações uteis para o trabalho, por esse motivo, o projeto Safety  foi criado com intuito de captar essas novas publicações, avaliar e posteriormente, inserir essas informações no trabalho proporcionando novas ferramentas de enfrentamento de acordo com a aplicabilidade no Brasil. REZENDE, JM. À sombra do plátano: crônicas de história da medicina [online]. São Paulo: EditorUnifesp, 2009. As grandes epidemias da história. pp. 73-82. ISBN 978-85-61673-63-5. Available from SciELO Books http://books.scielo.org.   ZHU, D et al. Um novo coronavírus de paciente com pneumonia na China em 2019. The New England Journal of medicine. Disponível em: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2001017, acessado dia 04/06/2020.   Organização Mundial da Saúde . Coronavírus Novel - China . Genebra, Suíça : Organização Mundial de Saúde , 12 de Janeiro de , 2020 . Https://www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/.   FREITAS, AR; NAPIMOGA, M; DONALISIO, MR. Análise da gravidade da pandemia de Covid-19.Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde,  Brasília ,  v. 29, n. 2,  e2020119,    2020 .   Available from <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S223796222020000200900&lng=en&nrm=iso>. access on  04  June  2020.  Epub Apr 06, 2020.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/s1679-49742020000200008.   FILHO, JMJ et al . A saúde do trabalhador e o enfrentamento da COVID-19. Rev. bras. saúde ocup.,  São Paulo ,  v. 45,  e14,    2020 .   Available from <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S030376572020000100100&lng=en&nrm=iso>. access on  04  June  2020.  Epub Apr 17, 2020.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2317-6369ed0000120.   BRASIL. Ministério da saúde. Secretária de Vigilância em Saúde. Covid 19. 2020. https://covid.saude.gov.br/.   7.COFEN. Conselho Federal de Enfermagem. Registra 10 mil casos de Covid 19 entre profissionais de enfermagem. 2020. http://www.cofen.gov.br/cofen-registra-10-mil-casos-de-covid-19-entre-profissionais-de-enfermagem_79551.html.   CDC. Centro de Controle de Doenças Infecciosas. Divisão de Doenças Virais dos EUA. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ambulatory-care-settings.html.   9.BRASIL Ministério da Saúde. Protocolo de Manejo Clínico do Coronavírus (Covid 19) Na Atenção Primária a Saúde Versão 8. Disponível em Abril 2020.  http://189.28.128.100/dab/docs/portaldab/documentos/20200422_ProtocoloManejo_ver08.pdf.   PORTUGAL Direção Geral da Saúde. Abordagem do Doente com Suspeita ou Infeção por SARS-CoV-2. Norma nº 004/2020 de 23/03/2020 atualizada a 25/04/2020https://www.dgs.pt/directrizes-da-dgs/normas-e-circulares normativas/norma-n-0042020-de-23032020-pdf.aspx   ESPANHA Ministerio de Sanidad. Procedimiento de Actuación para los Servicios de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales frente a la Exposición AL SARS‐cov‐2. Junho, 2020.https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov-China/documentos/PrevencionRRLL_COVID-19.pdf   12.UK. Guidance Transmission Characteristics and Principles of Infection Prevention and Control. Public Health England. July 2020. https://w ww.gov.uk/government/publications/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-infection prevention-and-control/transmission-characteristics-and-principles-of-infection-prevention-and-control.   13. UK.  Reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the hospital setting. Public Health England. July 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-infection-prevention-and-control/reducing-the-risk-of-transmission-of-covid-19-in-the-hospital-setting


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (12) ◽  
pp. e45-e80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andi L Shane ◽  
Rajal K Mody ◽  
John A Crump ◽  
Phillip I Tarr ◽  
Theodore S Steiner ◽  
...  

Abstract These guidelines are intended for use by healthcare professionals who care for children and adults with suspected or confirmed infectious diarrhea. They are not intended to replace physician judgement regarding specific patients or clinical or public health situations. This document does not provide detailed recommendations on infection prevention and control aspects related to infectious diarrhea.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s17-s18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toju Ogunremi ◽  
Kathleen Dunn ◽  
Jennie Johnstone ◽  
Joanne Embree

Background: Severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), able to cause pneumonia in humans, was discovered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Investigations related to transmissibility are ongoing, but human-to-human transmission involving healthcare workers providing patient care and close contacts of infected patients have been confirmed. Infection control procedures are necessary to prevent transmission during delivery of health care in healthcare settings. Public health in Canada is a shared responsibility among municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal governments. Significant public health events require coordination between all levels of government and a consistent approach across jurisdictions. The objective of this summary is to describe the Public Health Agency (PHAC)’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guideline on SARS-CoV-2. Methods: The PHAC’s interim guideline for infection prevention and control of 2019-nCoV in acute healthcare settings was informed by the currently limited evidence available, and adapted to the context of healthcare delivery in Canada. The guideline is based upon Canadian guidance developed for previous coronavirus outbreaks (eg, SARS and MERS), as well as the World Health Organization (WHO)’s interim guidance. Technical advice was provided by the National Advisory Committee on Infection Prevention and Control (NAC-IPC) of the Government of Canada. Interjurisdictional collaboration and decision making between multiple authorities and levels of government was facilitated using PHACs federal/provincial/territorial (FPT) Public Health Response Plan for Biological events (Fig. 1). Results: In the absence of effective drugs or vaccines, IPC strategies to prevent or limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission in healthcare settings include the following: prompt identification of signs, symptoms and exposure criteria, implementation of appropriate IPC measures (eg, contact and droplet precautions, patient isolation, N95 respirator plus eye protection when performing aerosol-generating medical procedures on a person under investigation), and etiologic diagnosis. Guideline recommendations are informed by collective expert interpretation of available evidence. Recommendations cover all relevant areas including screening and assessment, public health surveillance and notification, laboratory testing and reporting, respiratory hygiene, hand hygiene, patient placement and flow, management of visitors, use of personal protective equipment, environmental cleaning and discontinuation of precautions. Conclusions: This guideline is an ever-changing document. Changes in recommendations provided may be warranted with new evidence, changes in WHO guidelines, or other identified concerns. FPT governments continue to work collaboratively to ensure that Canada is ready to respond to public health events and is prepared to protect the health of Canadians. Opportunities for international collaboration on IPC products, as well as knowledge exchange and mobilization, continue to thrive.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
Katherine Paphitis ◽  
David Ryding ◽  
Colin MacDougall ◽  
Sandra Callery ◽  
Barbara Catt ◽  
...  

Objectives Aesthetic services can pose a potential risk of infection to clients if instruments are not discarded or reprocessed after each use. Public health inspectors (PHIs) inspect personal service settings (PSS) to monitor compliance with infection prevention and control (IPAC) requirements. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of various IPAC infractions in Ontario PSS that were identified during routine compliance inspections and whether these were similar to those identified during investigations in these settings in which an IPAC lapse was deemed to exist. Methods PSS inspection results were analyzed from three public health units (PHUs) in Ontario in 2018. Premises were grouped into three premises types (hairdressing/barbering, aesthetics, and body modification) and infractions from 16 IPAC compliance categories were compared. Results of IPAC lapse investigations for all of Ontario were also compared across premises types. Results There were 5,386 inspections conducted in 4,483 PSS by three PHUs in 2018. PSS offering aesthetics were most likely to have infractions identified. Common infractions were related to inappropriate reuse of single-use and reusable instruments. Of the 121 IPAC lapses reported by PHUs in 2018, 52 (43.0%) were in PSS, and 73.1% of these were associated with nail salons/spas. Conclusions Operators could benefit from increased awareness of infection control best practices and the potential for infections to occur if these are not followed. PHIs could consider an alternate frequency of PSS inspection to increase operator education and compliance with minimum IPAC requirements.


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