Going public with C. difficile rates a 'positive' move: hospital CEO
Process of gathering information 'straight-forward' for Toronto East General
Monday September 29, 2008 -- Natalie Miller
Providing the public with rates of hospital-acquired illness is a step in the right direction, says a Toronto-area hospital president and CEO.

Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH) supports being transparent and reporting data about C. difficile.

"We see this as a huge, positive step forward," says Rob Devitt, president and CEO.

"Having this data (available province-wide) allows us to get better and continually improve."

As of Sept. 26, Ontario hospitals were required to provide the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care with data relating to the prevalence of C. difficile, a contagious infection that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to colitis to death.

The ministry will release this information every month on a website accessible to the public. Hospitals are expected to post this information as well on their own websites.

The intention behind the release of this information is to keep the public educated about rates of healthcare-acquired illness in Ontario. C. difficile is the first hospital-acquired illness among the new reporting requirements.

Others contagious diseases and corresponding reporting deadlines are upcoming. Devitt looks forward to the public release of the other data, which includes Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

"When you shine a light on any data, through time, it allows you to look more critically at it. What this is really about is continuous improvement."

For this urban hospital, the data collection process and packaging of information for the ministry was pretty "straight-forward."

Devitt points out the hospital had already taken steps previously to release this information on its own website.

"I think public disclosure is a great thing."

Leading up to the new requirement, the ministry and the Ontario Hospital Association held several educational sessions to help hospitals learn more about C. difficile, understand the reporting requirements and grasp the logistics of data tracking.

Hospitals are now required to report to the ministry all data regarding C. difficile, including rates, patient days and the count of acquired cases associated with the particular hospital by the 15th of each month.

Ultimately, the ministry will publish each month the hospital-associated C. difficile rate for each hospital site and the number of new cases associated with the reporting facility for each hospital site.

Devitt says it will be helpful to compare rates across the board.

"I think hospitals in Ontario are safe. But there's always room to make them safer."

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