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Infection control

Vancomycin-
Resistant
Enterococci

Enterococci are bacteria that live in the intestines of most individuals and generally do not cause harm. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) are strains of enterococci that are resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin. If a person has an infection caused by Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) it may be more difficult to treat.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE)  is defined as a patient identified with laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection with Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci.

Reporting

Every three (3) months, you will find VRE infection rates for SJGHEL posted on our website as required by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Included in the table is data on the number of new hospital-acquired cases and the rate for the quarter (3 months). To ensure patient confidentiality, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has advised hospitals that have between one and four cases in a month to report the number of cases as “less than 5”.

Infection Prevention and Control Indicators

Calculating Rates

The VRE rate is calculated as a rate per 1,000 patient days. The “total patient days” represents the sum of the number of days during which services were provided to all inpatients during the given time period.

The VRE rate is calculated as follows:
Number of new hospital-acquired VRE cases in our facility X 1000 / Total number of patient days (for 3 months)

SJGHEL’s Current VRE Report