Table 1.

Comparison of elements discrepancies between provincial and CNISP, CDI and MRSA

Province	Elements of provincial definition	Elements of the CNISP definition	Discrepancies
Clostridioides difficile infections
British Columbia, Nova Scotia	If the patient’s medical chart was reviewed and the information about the frequency and consistency of diarrhea was not available, or only one or two liquid or loose stools was documented, the infection control practitioner must decide based on the patient’s other clinical manifestations and treatments or consult with the nurse or physician caring for the patient.	Inclusion: has diarrhea or fever, abdominal pain and/or ileus AND a laboratory confirmation of a positive toxin assay	Diarrhea
Newfoundland and Labrador	Recurrence of diarrhea within four weeks of a previous C. difficile infection episode	Inclusion: new episode of CDI which occurs greater than eight weeks after the diagnosis of a previous episode in the same patient	Recurrence between 4 to less than 8 weeks
Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island	Patient 1 year old and less accepted	Exclusion: Any patients under 1 year of age.	Patient age of 1 year old and more
Nova Scotia, Ontario	Patients who were discharged in the previous 4 weeks and return to the ER or outpatient clinic with a new onset of CDI, but are not readmitted, are NOT included.	Inclusion: The patient presents with CDI symptoms at your ER or outpatient location AND the patient had been previously hospitalized at your healthcare facility and discharged within the previous 4 weeks	Patient admission
Prince Edward Island	Fever and abdominal pain AND a positive toxin assay or PCR cannot be used for a case confirmation	Inclusion: has diarrhea or fever, abdominal pain and/or ileus AND a laboratory confirmation of a positive toxin assay or positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for C. difficile toxin gene(s)	Fever and abdominal pain
Prince Edward Island	Hospitalization > 48 h before specimen collection	Inclusion: The patient’s CDI symptoms occur in your healthcare facility 3 or more days (or ≥ 72 h) after admission	Two days of admission
Saskatchewan	If information about the frequency and consistency of diarrhea is not available, a toxin-positive stool or positive PCR may be considered as a case.	Inclusion: Starting in 2017, we will no longer accept asymptomatic cases identified only by laboratory confirmation of a positive toxin assay or PCR for C. difficile (i.e. A patient must have diarrhea or fever, abdominal pain and/or ileus AND a laboratory confirmation of a positive toxin assay or PCR for C. difficile to be identified as having CDI)	Information about diarrhea available
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island	No precision about the mother MRSA status on admission (newborn)	The mother was NOT known to have MRSA on admission and there is no epidemiological reason to suspect that the mother was colonized prior to admission, even if the newborn is < 48 h of age	Mother status
Quebec	No precision on admission status	Patient must be admitted to the hospital	Patient admission
Quebec	Mental health, labour and delivery beds are excluded	No information about exclusion of these departments	Patient from Mental or mother and children department
Ontario	The infection was present at the time of admission but was related to a previous admission to the same facility within the last 72 h	Inclusion: Patient has been hospitalized in your facility in the last 7 days or up to 90 days depending on the source of infection	Previous admission within the last 3 days