Clostridium Difficile (C. difficile) Infection (CDI)
| CDI Rates for September 2024 | ||
| Site | Total # New Cases | Rate |
| St. Joseph's Hospital | 0 | 0.00 |
| Parkwood Institute - Main | 5 | 0.55 |
| Parkwood Institute - Mental Health Care | 1 | 0.23 |
| Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care | 0 | 0.00 |
About this patient safety indicator:
On September 26, 2008, hospitals were required by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to report publicly on their C. difficile rates.
St. Joseph’s strongly supports the provincial government’s new public reporting regime because we believe it will inspire improved performance, enhance patient safety, and strengthen the public’s confidence in Ontario’s hospitals. C.difficile rates are posted to our public website and the Ministry website on a monthly basis.
How are the rates calculated?
[(# of new hospital-acquired cases of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) associated with the reporting facility)
÷
(# of patient days)]
x1000
= incidence rate of hospital-acquired CDI associated with the reporting facility per 1000 patient days
What is Clostridium difficile (C. difficile)?
C. difficile is a bacteria found in soil and other natural environments. It can also live in the gut or bowel along with many other kinds of bacteria.
What is Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)?
Antibiotics used to treat infections kill many of the good bowel bacteria and allow C. difficile to grow causing irritation of the bowel and diarrhea.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms may include watery diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain or tenderness.
How is C. difficile treated?
Treatment depends on the severity of illness. People with mild symptoms may not need treatment. For more severe disease, their doctor will order antibiotics.
How to prevent spread?
As a safety measure in hospital, staff provide care using special precautions to prevent spread of the infection to other patients. An infected patient may be moved to a new room and their activities outside their room may be restricted. Health care providers entering the patient's room may wear a gown and gloves. Everyone must clean their hands when they enter and exit your room, including staff, visitors and the patient themselves.