Patient Safety

Patient safety is and will continue to be a top priority for everyone at Georgian Bay General Hospital. We believe that quality healthcare goes hand in hand with safe healthcare. GBGH is committed to initiatives that develop, maintain and nurture our culture of safety for our patients, families, staff and physicians.

Everyone has a Role in Patient Safety

Patients and families are partners in the delivery of quality patient care and have an important role to play in patient safety.

Your Health Care – Be Involved

The Ontario Hospital Association has created five common-sense patient safety tips to help patients make informed decisions about your health care:

1. Be involved in your health care. Speak up if you have questions or concerns about your care.
2. Tell a member of your health care team about your past illnesses and your current health condition.
3. Bring all of your medicines with you when you go to the hospital or to a medical appointment.
4. Tell a member of your health care team if you have ever had an allergic or bad reaction to any medicine or food.
5. Make sure you know what to do when you go home from the hospital or from your medical appointment.

Visiting Policy

One of the best ways for visitors and family members to protect patients is to follow GBGH’s visiting policy, which exists for the safety of all our patients and staff. Please be considerate and if you are feeling unwell postpone your visit.

Just Clean Your Hands

The single most effective way to stop the spread of infections is good hand hygiene. GBGH is proud to be a participant in the Ministry of Health and Long term Care’s Just Clean Your Hands initiative. The program is designed to build a culture where infection prevention and control is everyone’s business – staff physicians, patients and visitors alike. Please remember to clean your hands on the way into the hospital and take advantage of the many hand-cleaning stations throughout the hospital during your visit. Also, be sure to clean your hands when you are leaving the hospital.

Infection Prevention & Control

An infection prevention and control program is extremely important to patient safety since the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria – C. difficile, MRSA, and VRE – are a reality of health care delivery today. In recognition of this, GBGH uses aggressive infection control procedures, including:

• Heightened surveillance by front-line staff and physicians, coordinated by a dedicated infection control team;
• The placement of hand hygiene stations throughout the hospital and in patient areas;
• Increased frequency and intensity of cleaning in all patient care areas;
• Dedicated medical equipment, whenever possible, for patients who may have an infectious disease or be colonized with an antibiotic resistant bacteria;
• A corporate-wide hand hygiene program;
• Increased education for staff, physicians, patients and their families.

Public Reporting

GBGH Infection report is located under the Accountability tab and reports on the following:

• Clostridium Difficile rates at GBGH
• MRSA rates at GBGH
• VRE rates at GBGH
• CLI-BSI rates at GBGH
• VAP rates at GBGH
• Hand hygiene compliance rates at GBGH