Ontario hospital workers displaying better hygiene
Posted May 1, 2010 12:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
New statistics show that although more Ontario hospital workers are displaying better hygiene practices than ever before, they are still failing to wash their hands about one third of the time when dealing with patients.
There has been a 10% improvement in hand hygiene province wide in the past year, and 67.5% of hospital workers wash their hands upon entering a patient’s room, up from 53% the previous year. As a result, rates of hospital spread infection continue to drop.
The rate varies widely between large community hospitals. At the top of the list for good hygiene is Humber River Regional’s Keele site in Toronto, at 97%, while William Ostler’s Brampton site is the lowest on the list at 31.5%.
When leaving the patient’s room, 78.5% of hospital professionals wash up, compared to 68% last year. While it may not be solely linked to handwashing, rates of infection from hospital superbug C. Difficile have dropped considerably over the same time period.
Where acute teaching hospitals were concerned, both the highest and lowest compliance rates for handwashing were found at Sudbury Regional Hospital – a high of 73.5% for their Laurentian Site, and a low of 29% at the general site.
Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care had the lowest rate of hand hygiene for a complex care centre, at only 30.6%, while Windsor’s Regional Hospital’s western site was the highest.
Small hospitals ranged from 100% compliance before and after patient contact (Manitoulin Health Centre) to 28.5% at the Sioux Lookout Health Centre.
