Infections clearing at Charlottetown hospital

After a week with no new cases of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at Charlottetown's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, officials are hoping they just about have the superbugs beat.

The QEH was dealing with two sets of infections Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) but most of those patients have now gone home. The infections were first reported in May.

Special precautions are still in place. People coming in and out of the hospital still must squirt sanitizer on to their hands. If a few more days go by with no new cases, the hand-washing rules could be relaxed, hospital executive director Rob Philpott told CBC News on Thursday.

"Generally speaking people feel it might be somewhat of an inconvenience, because it takes extra time to clean your hands," said Philpott.

"I think while it is inconvenient, these are measures that are put in place to protect staff, patients and visitors. And I expect in that maybe in the future, it will be the norm."

Joining hand-washing campaign

Stricter measures regarding hand-washing for hospital staff will soon be in place at two other Island health care facilities: Prince County Hospital and Hillsborough Hospital. They're planning to join Canada's Hand Hygiene Campaign, which was launched in October by the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, a non-profit, independent organization.

Under the initiative, health-care workers will have to clean their hands before, during and after contact with patients, and institutions signed up will have to have someone responsible for making sure the hand-washing is happening.

The campaign is just one sign that hand-washing is becoming integral to health care. Next year, hand-washing audits will be part of the hospital accreditation process.

Chantal Backman, project manager for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, said staff are a critical part of controlling the spread of infections.

"Less than 40 per cent of health-care providers wash their hands," said Backman.

"If we could increase the hand-washing, it could probably reduce health-care-associated infection by 50 per cent."

Backman said 130 Canadian organizations are now part of the campaign. The P.E.I. Health Department says other Island hospitals will likely join in the coming months.