Glossary

Acute Teaching Hospital

Acute teaching hospitals include acute and paediatric hospitals that provide complex patient care, are affiliated with a medical or health sciences school, and have significant research activity and postgraduate training.

Clostridium difficile

Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming bacteria that is present in the environment and can colonize up to 3-5% of adults in the community without causing symptoms.

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)

CDI is a disease that damages the bowel as a result of C.difficile bacteria growth.

CDI Outbreak

In Ontario, there are a number of ways to define a CDI outbreak. A ward or unit level outbreak must be declared when a hospital has 6 or more patients with CDI on a ward or unit in a 30 day period. A facility-level outbreak must be declared when the baseline CDI rate for the hospital is at or above the 80th percentile of the average rate for comparator facilities calculated on a quarterly basis.

CDI Rates

The rate is calculated by dividing the number of new cases observed at the hospital site by the number of patient days per reporting period, multiplied by 1000. Rates are expressed as cases per 1,000 patient days and exclude patients less than one year of age. This rate calculation allows the level of hospital activity to be taken into account, which may fluctuate over time and is different across hospitals.

Complex Continuing Care Hospital

Complex continuing care hospitals have their own building, chief executive officer (CEO), and board. They report data to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care separately from other hospitals or facilities and usually do not have acute care patients.

Hospital Patient Days

Patient days are the number of days spent in a hospital for all patients. For example, if there are 100 patients in a hospital for 10 days, that totals 1000 patient days (100 x 10).

IPC

Infection Prevention and Control.

Large Community Hospital

Large community hospitals are hospitals that are not defined as small or teaching.

LHIN

Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) are not-for-profit corporations that work with local health providers and community members to determine the health service priorities of their regions. LHINs do not provide services directly; instead they are responsible for integrating services in each of their specific geographic areas. LHINs work with local health providers and community members to develop integrated health service plans for their local area.

Mental Health Hospital

Mental health hospitals serve individuals with more complex treatment and behavioural management needs. Their patients typically require a longer length of stay.

Monthly Case Count

The number of patients with hospital-acquired CDI during a calendar month.

Nosocomial

Infections acquired in the hospital.

PHU

Public Health Unit.

Rehabilitation Hospital

Rehabilitation hospitals provide rehabilitation for clients with a primary health condition that is physical in nature (e.g. stroke, orthopedic conditions, brain dysfunction, spinal cord dysfunction or amputation) in publicly-funded, designated adult rehabilitation beds.

RICN

Regional Infection Control Networks (RICNs) are designed to coordinate infection prevention and control activities and promote standardization in healthcare facilities across Ontario. Development of the networks has brought together infection prevention and control and infectious diseases expertise from relevant fields across the health care continuum including acute care, public health, community care and long-term care homes. There are 14 RICNs in Ontario.

Small Community Hospital

Small community hospitals generally provide services to a single community and have a lower number of cases than a large hospital.