toh

I am very proud of the advances we have made in Infection Control here at The Ottawa Hospital.  We have a dedicated team of health professionals and support staff all working hard to ensure our hands, the health-care environment and medical equipment is clean.  Our hand hygiene rates are now among the highest in the province at over 90%.  This means safer care for our patients.

Recently, we have made a change in how we treat an antibiotic-resistant bacterium called vancomycin-resistant enterococcus or VRE.  Since 1998, The Ottawa Hospital has been actively testing patients to see if they carry VRE.  Special precautions were used for patients who tested positive for VRE.

However, over the past decade, we have learned that VRE rarely causes serious infections.  Most people who carry VRE do not suffer any ill effects at all from this bacterium.  So, along with many other hospitals in Ontario and across Canada, we will no longer consider VRE to be a “superbug.”

This means that we will no longer test patients for VRE.  It also means that patients will no longer be identified on their electronic chart as having VRE.  They will not be treated differently than any other patient.

This change will allow us to enhance our infection control standards for all patients.  We are confident that this will improve patient safety and reduce the risk of all hospital-related infections.

Dr. Virginia R. Roth
Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Control Program

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