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Policies & Practices: Patient Safety

Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE)

What is Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus?
Enterococci are germs that live in the gastrointestinal tract (bowels) 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 VRE, such as a urinary tract infection or blood infection, it may be more difficult to treat.

What is a bacteraemia?
Bacteraemia is the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream and is referred to as a bloodstream infection.

How is VRE spread?
VRE is spread from one person to another by contact, usually on the hands of caregivers. VRE can be present on the caregiver’s hands either from touching contaminated material excreted by an infected person or from touching articles soiled by feces. VRE can survive well on hands and can survive for weeks on inanimate objects such as toilet seats, taps, door handles, bedrails, furniture and bedpans. VRE is easy to kill with the proper use of disinfectants and good hand hygiene.

Surveillance at Holland Bloorview:

2011	March 2011	June 2011	September 2011	December 2011
Number of new cases of VRE	0	0	0	0
VRE Rate	0	0	0	0

 

2010	March 2010	June 2010	September 2010	December 2010
Number of new cases of VRE	0	0	0	0
VRE Rate	0	0	0	0

 

2009	November 2008	March 2009	June 2009	September 2009	December 2009
Number of new cases of VRE	0	0	0	0	0
VRE Rate	0	0	0	0	0

The method of calculation of the VRE bacteraemia infection rate for the reporting period (on a quarterly basis) is:

Number of nosocomial patients with laboratory identification of VRE bacteraemia x 1000 Total number of patient days

Where the numerator is the total number of newly identified cases for VRE bacteraemia associated with the reporting facility, for the reporting period. The denominator is the total number of in-patient days for the reporting period. There are no exclusion criteria.

For smaller facilities that have only a small inpatient population, like Holland Bloorview, VRE rates may vary from month to month. In fact, the smaller the facility, the greater the rates will vary, because a change in even one case in a small facility will cause the rate to go up or down considerably.

FAQs for clients and families:

• Public Reporting on VRE (PDF)
  
  To view VRE rates for all Ontario hospitals please visit www.ontario.ca/patientsafety

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