The Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network’s (ON-SQIN) Committed to Better: Reducing Infections after Surgery campaign officially launched at the network’s meeting last fall, and has 31 participating hospitals working together to make meaningful improvements to the care they provide by further reducing rates of infection in three areas:
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Surgical site infections
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Urinary tract infections
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Pneumonia
Why these areas of infection?
When compared with international data, surgical outcomes in ON-SQIN hospitals are shown to be “exceptional” or “as expected” in many areas; however, ON-SQIN hospitals show the most “room for improvement” in three areas.
Participation in the campaign
Since April 2018, participating network hospitals have selected at least one indicator (surgical site infections, urinary tract infections or pneumonia) to prioritize and have included these in their 2018/19 surgical quality improvement plans (SQIPs).
They have also posted campaign posters in the pre- and post-op areas of their hospitals, and will implement best practices procedures for these infection areas.
These hospitals will benchmark their infection rates against those of their international counterparts, as found in the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database.
They will also change their practices before, during and after surgeries, and measure the impact.
Non ON-SQIN hospital participation
If you are not an ON-SQIN hospital but would like to further reduce surgical infection rates in your hospital, you can download campaign materials below.
Campaign Toolkit
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Promotional posters – outline best practice change ideas for each of the three infection improvement areas (see toolkit below). Posters are available in English and French.
We encourage you to share and post these widely to let your perioperative-care staff and surgical patients know that your hospital is committed to reducing these surgical infections.
- Wordmark – We encourage you to use the wordmark on your hospital campaign communications materials.