Major ArticlesThe state of infection surveillance and control in Canadian acute care hospitals*,**,★
Section snippets
Methods
In the fall of 2000, a survey was sent to infection control programs in the 238 acute care hospitals in Canada that were identified as having more than 80 acute care beds. A list of eligible hospitals was compiled from listings provided by CNISP, the Canadian Health Facilities Directory,14 Surveillance Provinciale Des Infections Nosocomiales,11 and the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association (CHICA) Canada. The survey was sent to the staff member most responsible for the infection
Respondent hospitals' characteristics
The response rate was 72.3%; 147 surveys were received, representing 172 of 238 eligible facilities. Fifteen surveys were received from larger health organizations that represented up to 4 eligible hospitals. Two surveys were not included in the analysis because of incomplete information.
Hospitals owned and/or operated by larger entities comprised 90 of 143 (62.9%) of the sample. One third of infection control programs, 45 of 138 (32.6%), had direct responsibility for more than 1 acute health
Discussion
This is the first comprehensive examination of the status of infection control programs in acute care hospitals in Canada in 20 years. The high response rate to this survey permits Canada wide generalizations to medium and large acute care hospitals.
Methodologic differences between earlier Canadian surveys and this survey hindered direct comparisons; however, some conclusions can be drawn.18, 19, 20 In 1981, 88.1% of general hospitals with more than 99 beds and teaching hospitals engaged in
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the survey respondents for taking the time and effort to complete the lengthy survey, CHICA-Canada and its chapters for their input, Dr. Charles Frenette for helping to identify eligible hospitals in Quebec, and Health Canada for funding the project.
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*Members are listed at end of article.
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Supported by Health Canada.
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Reprint requests: Dick E. Zoutman, MD, FRCPC, Department of Pathology, Queen's University and Infection Control Service, Kingston General Hospital, 76 Stuart St, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 2V7, Canada.