What this program does…

Infection Prevention and Control is an essential part of quality patient care. Our evidence-based guidance and recommendations help reduce the risk of infection for patients, staff and visitors at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

Our key goals are to protect our patients from health care associated infections while supporting a return to good health, and to prevent the spread of infections from patients, health care providers, visitors and others in our health care environment.

How this program helps...

Prevention Promptly identifying and putting control measures in place to ensure infections do not happen and/or spread.

Consultation Providing expert guidance to staff, patients and our community partners on matters related to the prevention and control of infections.

Education Providing patient centered education, staff orientation on-going hospital wide education and learning tools related to infection prevention.

Surveillance Checking our patients for specific infection risks. Some of our initiatives include tracking drug resistant organisms, surgical infections, and equipment related infections.

Outbreak Management Ensuring patient and staff safety by quickly identifying possible outbreaks of infectious diseases and ensure measures are in place to stop spread.

Quality Assurance & Research Participating locally, provincially and nationally to make sure we are using the most effective, efficient and practical infection prevention and control methods. 

Your Infection Prevention & Control Team

Contact

The Campuses of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH)

Charlton Campus, Room F705
50 Charlton Avenue East

King Campus, Room 1100
2757 King Street East 

West 5th Campus, Room C247
100 West 5th Street 

Central Line for all Campuses – 905-522-1155 Ext. 33385
Central Fax for all Campuses - 905-540-6557

Preparing for Your Visit

Whether you are preparing for a hospital stay, attending a clinic, or visiting an admitted family member/ friend there is important information to consider before you come to the hospital.

Respiratory Etiquette

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough/sneeze or cough/sneeze into your upper sleeve.
• Do not cough/sneeze into your hands.
• Place used tissue into the waste basket.
• Wash your hands with the alcohol based hand rub located throughout the hospital.

Hand Hygiene

Each time you enter and leave the hospital and unit please use the alcohol based hand rub to clean your hands.

As a patient, tell your visitors to clean their hands before and after each visit using the hand sanitizer outside the room.

Everyone should clean their hands:

• Before and after touching a patient
• Before and after eating
• When their hands are visibly dirty
• After using the bathroom
• After coughing/sneezing

Visitor Specific Information

Clean hands are one of the best ways to stop the spread of germs that can cause infection and illness. Please do your part by using the alcohol based hand rub located throughout the hospital. If your hands are visibly soiled, please wash them with soap and water. Wash your hands before and after each visit.

If you are visiting a patient who is in Isolation, please talk to the Nurse before you enter the patient’s room. The Nurse will provide you with special instructions before you visit.

Each patient room has its own washroom. Many also have a bath tub or shower. These are for patient use only.

People should not visit the Hospital if they do not feel well or have:

• Chills or fever
• Diarrhea in the last 48 hours
• Nausea or vomiting
• Signs of an infection such as a rash

Patient Personal Belongings and Care Items

Please send home all medications, valuables and clothes not needed during your stay. This includes jewelry, wallet, money and credit cards. 

You will need personal items such as shaving equipment, feminine hygiene products, reading glasses, dentures, hearing aids, tissues and reading material. Please bring items in small quantities only. This will help to keep your room clutter free and easier to keep clean.

You should also bring your walker or cane if you use one.

Maps & Directions

Our main office is located in Room F705 at SJHH Charlton Campus. Please click here for a map and hospital directory of the Charlton Campus site.

Patient Family & Visitor Information

Protecting our patients, visitors and staff from infection is vital to achieving our goal of providing quality patient care at SJHH. We strongly encourage patients, visitors, staff and others who may come in contact with the Hospital to view these resources for more information about infection prevention and control.

C. Difficile
Going home with an ARO (Antibiotic Resistant Organism)
Influenza
MRSA
Flu Shot
Visiting Someone in Contact Precautions
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE)
ESBL

For more information, please view the following videos:

• Infection Control for Families and Visitors Video
• Hand-washing Video
• Cover Your Cough (Why Don’t We Do It In Our Sleeves)

Other Helpful Infection Prevention Links:

Public Health Agency of Canada
Public Health Ontario
Hamilton Public Health
Community and Hospital Infection Control Association
Association for Professional s in Infection Control and Epidemiology
Centre for Disease Control
World Health Organization
Do Bugs Need Drugs
Travel Health Notices