Our Mission

“To assist health care providers to improve patient outcomes by identifying preventable infections and reducing the probability of their occurrence”

In Canada, it is estimated that 250,000 people (one in nine patients) who are admitted to hospital every year get infections while being treated for something else (Zoutman, Ford, Bryce, Gourdeau, Hebert, Henderson, and Paton, 2003).

Many of these infections are minor while others are much more serious.

Not all infections can be prevented, but it is thought that about 30 per cent to 50 per cent of health care associated infections can be avoided (Zoutman et al, 2003). This is done through following basic infection prevention and control practices such as hand washing.

Capital Health takes infection prevention and control seriously, and has an active infection prevention and control program in place in all of our facilities.

We do this through education, research, consultation and by conducting surveillance for infection.

• Education: We provide education to staff, volunteers, physicians, patients and their families regarding infection prevention and control topics.
• Research: We are part of a network of Canadian hospitals that collect data for the Public Health Agency of Canada.
• Consultation: We help staff and departments in the hospital to problem-solve, write policies and guidelines aimed at providing the best and safest care for patients. Protocols, guidelines and recommendations are based on scientific evidence, national and international guidelines (such as from the Public Health Agency of Canada) and Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States of America.
• Surveillance: Infection Prevention and Control practitioners (ICP) monitor for infections. Surveillance data assists in alerting the ICP to a potential problem and helps to prevent outbreaks. Surveillance serves to reduce and prevent health care associated infections and enhances patient safety.

Infection Prevention and Control Staff:

The Infection Pevention and Control Department at Capital Health is staffed by 11 infection prevention and control practitioners, two clerical staff, one district manager and two physician directors who are infectious disease specialists.

All infection prevention and control practitioners within Capital Health are Registered Nurses (RN) with broad clinical background and expertise. All have received additional training in infection prevention and control.

Our Affiliations:

Our department is affiliated with the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association - Canada (CHICA) and our provincial chapter CHICA - Nova Scotia.

Reference:

Zoutman, D.E., Ford, D.B., Bryce, E., Gourdeau, M., Hebert, G., Henderson, E., and Paton, S. (2003). The state of infection surveillance and control in Canadian acute care hospitals. American Journal of Infection Control, 31(5), 266-273.