All accredited Canadian hospitals and health-care facilities will have to institute hand-washing evaluation initiatives by January 2009.
The new requirement will apply to hospitals and other health-care organizations, such as nursing homes, that are accredited by Accreditation Canada, formerly known as the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation.
Wendy Nicklin, president and chief executive officer of Accreditation Canada, told CTV.ca that in the wake of outbreaks of MRSA and C. difficile at Canadian hospitals, the health-care industry needs to examine its hygiene practices. She said that studies have shown that hand washing lowers instances of infectious-disease outbreaks in health-care settings.
"There's a real recognition of what are some of the practices that we need to look more closely at in health care and where can we take steps that perhaps are simple but can have very positive and wide-reaching impact," Nicklin said.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, hospital-acquired infections result in between 8,000 and 12,000 deaths in Canada each year.
Accredited hospitals and other organizations are already expected to train employees in proper hand-washing techniques. The new rules simply require that they monitor their employees' compliance with their regulations and make improvements if necessary.
Nicklin said that Accreditation Canada will not impose a single evaluation method on all of its clients. Each organization will be able to devise its own strategy.
However, Accreditation Canada will pass on information about other groups' evaluation programs to any organization that requests some guidance.
Accreditation Canada has accredited more than 1,000 health-care organizations, from hospitals to nursing homes, across Canada. These organizations have met specific standards ranging from patient care and safety to staff training established by Accreditation Canada.
Accreditation is voluntary, except in Quebec, where all public and private health-care organizations are required to be accredited, Nicklin said.
