Jennie Johnstone's research while affiliated with Public Health Ontario and other places
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Publications (202)
Purpose
To categorize, quantify and interpret findings documented in feedback letters of monitoring or auditing visits for an investigator-initiated, peer-review funded multicenter randomized trial testing probiotics for critically ill patients.
Materials & methods
In 37 Canadian centers, monitoring and auditing visits were performed by 3 trained...
Abstract Background The mental health effects of healthcare work during the COVID-19 pandemic have been substantial, but it is not known how long they will persist. This study aimed to determine if hospital workers’ burnout and psychological distress increased monotonically over 1 year, during which waves of case numbers and hospitalizations waxed...
Objectives:
To determine the safety and efficacy of probiotics or synbiotics on morbidity and mortality in critically ill adults and children.
Data sources:
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and unpublished sources from inception to May 4, 2021.
Study selection:
We performed a systematic search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that...
We investigated epidemiologic and molecular characteristics of healthcare-associated (HA) and community-associated (CA) Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) among adult patients in Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program hospitals during 2015-2019. The study encompassed 18,455 CDI cases, 13,735 (74.4%) HA and 4,720 (25.6%) CA. During...
Bloodstream infections (BSIs) represent a substantial mortality risk, yet most studies are limited to select pathogens or populations. The aim of this study was to describe the population-wide prevalence of BSIs and examine the associated mortality risk for the responsible microorganisms. We conducted a population-wide retrospective cohort study of...
Objective(s)
In the context of age- and risk-based pneumococcal vaccine recommendations in Canada, this study presents updated data from active surveillance of pneumococcal community acquired pneumonia (pCAP) and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in hospitalized adults from 2010 to 2017.
Methods
S. pneumoniae was detected using culture (blood an...
The emergence of the now provincially and globally dominant SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant demands a reassessment of the diagnostic performance of rapid antigen tests.
Rapid antigen tests are less sensitive for the Omicron variant compared to the Delta variant in nasal samples, especially in the first 1-2 days after infection. However, rapid antigen...
Dealing with COVID-19 has been a monumental test of medical skills and resources worldwide. The management of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) can at times be difficult but treating CAP in the setting of COVID-19 can be particularly trying and confusing and raises a number of challenging questions relating to etiology, diagnosis and of course, tr...
Rapid antigen tests identify SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the nose or throat by detecting proteins attached to the surface of the virus (the “antigen”). This approach makes rapid antigen tests different than PCR tests, which determine whether someone is infected with SARS-CoV-2 by amplifying the virus’ genetic material at a lab. B...
Background
Hand hygiene (HH) is a standard infection prevention and control precaution to be applied in healthcare settings to prevent transmission of COVID-19. Many healthcare institutions observed significant improvements in HH performance during wave one of the COVID-19 pandemic but the sustainability of this change is unknown. Our aim was to ev...
Background
Pneumococcal vaccine recommendations in Canada include both age- and risk-based guidance. This study aimed to describe the burden of vaccine-preventable pneumococcal community acquired pneumonia (pCAP) and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) by age in hospitalized adults.
Methods
Active surveillance for all-cause CAP and IPD in hospital...
There is little evidence around the potentially protective role of previous Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on postoperative mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Prior BCG vaccination did not protect SARS-CoV-2 infected patients against postoperative pulmonary complications and 30-day mortality.
Background. The mental health effects of healthcare work during the COVID-19 pandemic have been substantial, but it is not known how long they will persist. This study aimed to determine if hospital workers’ burnout and psychological distress increased monotonically over one year, during which waves of case numbers and hospitalizations waxed and wa...
Background: Surgery is the main modality of cure for solid cancers and was prioritised to continue during COVID-19 outbreaks. This study aimed to identify immediate areas for system strengthening by comparing the delivery of elective cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic in periods of lockdown versus light restriction. Methods: This internati...
Importance
Growing interest in microbial dysbiosis during critical illness has raised questions about the therapeutic potential of microbiome modification with probiotics. Prior randomized trials in this population suggest that probiotics reduce infection, particularly ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), although probiotic-associated infections...
Objective
The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a sustained psychological impact on healthcare workers. We assessed individual characteristics related to changes in emotional exhaustion and psychological distress over time.
Methods
A survey of diverse hospital staff measured emotional exhaustion (Maslach Burnout Inventory) and psychological di...
Objectives
COVID-19 has had devastating effects on long-term care homes across much of the world, and especially within Canada, with over 50% of the mortality from COVID-19 in 2020 in these homes. Understanding the way in which the virus spreads within these homes is critical to preventing further outbreaks.
Design
Retrospective chart review.
Set...
Objectives
An accurate estimate of the average number of hand hygiene opportunities per patient hour (HHO rate) is required to implement group electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems (GEHHMSs). We sought to identify predictors of HHOs to validate and implement a GEHHMS across a network of critical care units.
Design
Multicenter, observational s...
This paper summarizes COVID-19 disease epidemiology in Canada in the pre-vaccine era—from January through to December 2020. Canadian case numbers, risk factors, disease presentations (including severe and critical disease), and outcomes are described. Differences between provinces and territories in geography, population size and density, health de...
Background:
Macrolides are recommended as an adjunctive treatment for patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who experience recurrent exacerbations. The objective of this study was to examine temporal trends in the provision of long-term macrolide therapy, specifically before and after publication of the land...
Aim This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Method This was an international cohort study of patients undergoing elective resection of colon or rectal cancer without preoperative suspicio...
Background:
The role of antibiotics in preventing urinary tract infection (UTI) in older adults is unknown. We sought to quantify the benefits and risks of antibiotic prophylaxis among older adults.
Methods:
We conducted a matched cohort study comparing older adults (≥66 years) receiving antibiotic prophylaxis, defined as antibiotic treatment fo...
Ontario long-term care (LTC) home residents have experienced disproportionately high morbidity and mortality, both from COVID-19 and from the conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are several measures that could be effective in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks, hospitalizations, and deaths in Ontario’s LTC homes, if implemented. Firs...
Background:
Antimicrobial resistance and opioid misuse both present major public health challenges, and identifying high prescribers of both of these agents can help provide a common target for intervention. We sought to determine the association between being a high prescriber of antibiotics and being a high prescriber of opioids in the primary c...
Background
The hospital water environment is a CPE reservoir, and transmission of CPE from drains to patients is a risk.
Methods
We cultured sink and shower drains in patient rooms and communal shower rooms that were exposed to inpatients with CPE colonization/infection from October 2007 to December 2017 at 10 hospitals. We compared patient room d...
Key Message
Ontario long-term care (LTC) home residents have experienced disproportionately high morbidity and mortality, both from COVID-19 and from the conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are several measures that could be effective in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks, hospitalizations, and deaths in Ontario’s LTC homes, if imp...
Increasing rates of antimicrobial resistant organisms have focused attention on sink drainage systems as reservoirs for hospital-acquired Gammaproteobacteria colonization and infection. We aimed to assess the quality of evidence for transmission from this reservoir. We searched eight databases and identified 52 studies implicating sink drainage sys...
Background Surgical services are preparing to scale up in areas affected by COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the association between preoperative SARS-CoV-2 testing and postoperative pulmonary complications in patients undergoing elective cancer surgery. Methods This international cohort study included adult patients undergoing elective surge...
Surveillance data from Southern Ontario show that a majority of Verona Integron-encoded Metallo-β-lactamase (VIM)-producing Enterobacteriaceae are locally acquired. To better understand the local epidemiology, we analysed clinical and environmental bla VIM -positive Enterobacteriaceae from the area. Clinical samples were collected within the Toront...
Background: Healthcare services are increasingly shifting from inpatient to outpatient settings. Outpatient settings such as emergency departments (EDs), oncology clinics, dialysis clinics, and day surgery often involve invasive procedures with the risk of acquiring healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). As a leading cause of HAI, Clostridioides...
Background:
Hospital drains may be an important reservoir for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE).
Aim:
To determine prevalence of CPE in hospital drains exposed to in-patients with CPE, relatedness of drain and patient CPE, and risk factors for drain contamination.
Methods:
We cultured sink and shower drains in patient rooms and co...
Background:
Decades of studies document an association between Gammaproteobacteria in sink drains and hospital-acquired infections, but the evidence for causality is unclear.
Aim:
We aimed to develop a tool to assess the quality of evidence for causality in research studies that implicate sink drains as reservoirs for hospital-acquired Gammaprot...
Background:
Data on household transmission of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) remain limited. We studied the risk of CPE household co-colonization and transmission in Ontario, Canada.
Methods:
We enrolled CPE index cases (identified via population-based surveillance from January 2015 to October 2018) and their household contacts....
During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian nursing homes implemented strict no-visitor policies to reduce the risk of introducing COVID-19 in these settings. There are now growing concerns that the risks associated with restricted access to family caregivers and visitors have started to outweigh the potential benefits associated...
Introduction Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common healthcare-associated infection in the intensive care unit (ICU). Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms that may confer health benefits when ingested. Prior randomised trials suggest that probiotics may prevent infections such as VAP and Clostridioides difficile–associated diarr...
Background Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods We did an international, m...
Nursing homes have become “ground zero” for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) epidemic in North America, with homes experiencing widespread outbreaks resulting in severe morbidity and mortality among its residents. This manuscript describes a 371‐bed acute care hospital's emergency response to a 126‐bed nursing home experiencing a COVID‐19 ou...
Purpose
Alterations in bowel habits are common during critical illness, and bowel protocols are gaining acceptance. Our objective was to characterize bowel protocols in a cross-sectional analysis of ICUs.
Materials and methods
We engaged 44 adult ICUs and performed content analysis of bowel protocols, addressing initiation criteria, medications in...
Background:
Unnecessary antibiotic use in the community in Canada is not well defined. Our objective was to quantify unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in a Canadian primary care setting.
Methods:
We performed a descriptive analysis in Ontario from April 2011 to March 2016 using the Electronic Medical Records Primary Care database linked to othe...
Background
In Canada, 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) is recommended in childhood, in individuals at high risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and in healthy adults aged ≥65 years for protection against vaccine-type IPD and pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (pCAP). Since vaccine recommendations in Canada include both...
Background: Antimicrobial overuse contributes to antimicrobial resistance. In the ambulatory setting, where more than 90% of antibiotics are dispensed, there are no Canadian benchmarks for appropriate use. This study aims to define the expected appropriate outpatient antibiotic prescribing rates for three age groups (<2, 2–18, >18 years) using a mo...
In Ontario, Canada, since 2012, some hospitals discontinued Contact Precautions for VRE. Between 2009-2018, there was an associated rise in VRE bloodstream infections in hospitals where Contact Precautions were discontinued but not in hospitals that maintained Contact Precautions. These data suggest Contact Precautions are important for hospital VR...
Background:
Preventing vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infection is a healthcare priority. However, the cost-effectiveness of VRE control interventions is unclear.
Aim:
To synthesize evidence on economic evaluation of VRE control practices such as screening, contact precautions, patient cohorting, and others.
Methods:
We searched litera...
Objective
Interfacility patient movement plays an important role in the dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant organisms throughout healthcare systems. We evaluated how 3 alternative measures of interfacility patient sharing were associated with C. difficile infection incidence in Ontario acute-care facilities.
Design
The cohort included adult a...
Purpose
Probiotics may prevent healthcare-associated infections, such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea, and other adverse outcomes. Despite their potential benefits, there are no summative data examining the cost-effectiveness of probiotics in hospitalized patients. This systematic review summarized s...
Background:
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are a serious antimicrobial resistant threat in the healthcare setting. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of VRE screening and isolation for patients at high-risk for colonisation on a general medicine ward compared to no VRE screening and isolation from the healthcare payer perspective.
Methods...
Background
In healthy adults aged ≥65 years, direct immunization with the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was shown effective at preventing vaccine-type pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (pCAP) and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Although PCV13 was licensed for use in Canadian adults aged >50 years, it was recommended...
Background
Hospital drains may be a source of CPE in patients. We determined prevalence of and risk factors for CPE contamination of hospital drains exposed to patients with CPE colonization/infection.
Methods
We cultured hand hygiene and patient use sink as well as tub/shower drains exposed to 310 inpatients colonized/infected with CPE in 10 Onta...
Background
Though CPE in Canada are mainly acquired abroad, outbreaks/transmission in Canadian hospitals have been reported. We determined the incidence of HA CPE in southern Ontario, Canada, to inform prevention and control programs.
Methods
Toronto Invasive Bacterial Diseases Network (TIBDN) has performed population-based surveillance for CPE in...
Background
Hospital wastewater environments are recognized as reservoirs for multi-drug-resistant bacteria, and sink drains in ICUs have been implicated in numerous outbreaks. The mechanism of pathogen transmission to patients, and the best approach to risk mitigation remains unclear. We tested a new copper alloy sink drain for its effect on detect...
Background
We aimed to assess the risk of subsequent infection among patients colonized by CPE.
Methods
The Toronto Invasive Bacterial Diseases Network (TIBDN) has conducted population-based surveillance for CPE colonization/infection in Toronto and Peel region, Ontario, Canada, since CPE were first identified (2007). All laboratories report all C...
Background
In Ontario, Canada, PCV13 is covered for immunocompromised (IC) adults over 50y. PCV13 programs are thought not to be cost-effective in other adults because it is assumed that herd immunity from pediatric vaccination programs (PCV7 since 2005; PCV13 since 2010) will reduce PCV13 disease burden dramatically in adults. We analyzed data fro...
Background
Streptococcus pneumoniae can colonizes the human nasopharynx, and can cause life-threatening infections like community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD). In Canada, the 13-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was introduced in childhood immunization since 2010, with hopes that it would not only protect the vac...
Background:
Influenza causes significant annual morbidity and mortality, particularly in older adults, for whom influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) is also lower. Immunizing one group (e.g., children) against influenza may indirectly protect another group (e.g., older adults) against influenza and its complications.
Methods:
We updated previous...
Objective
Many jurisdictions lack comprehensive population-based antibiotic use data and rely on third party companies, most commonly IQVIA. Our objective was to validate the accuracy of the IQVIA Xponent antibiotic database in identifying high prescribing physicians compared to the reference standard of a highly accurate population-wide database o...
We evaluated the impact of discontinuing vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) screening and use of contact precautions on the incidence of health care-associated Clostridioides difficile infection (HA-CDI) in acute teaching hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Among hospitals that stopped VRE screening and contact precaution measures, there was a signi...
Background:
The Serious Outcomes Surveillance Network of the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN SOS) has been performing active influenza surveillance since 2009 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01517191). Influenza A and B viruses are identified and characterized using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)...
Background:
Rising rates of antimicrobial resistance are driven by overuse of antibiotics. Characterizing physician antibiotic prescribing variability can inform interventions to optimize antibiotic use.
Objectives:
To describe predictors of overall antibiotic prescribing as well as the inter-physician variability in antibiotic prescribing among...
Background:
The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was recently shown to be effective against PCV13-type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and pneumococcal community acquired pneumonia (CAPSpn) in healthy adults aged ≥65 years, prompting many countries to re-assess adult immunization. In Canada, the potential benefits of adult PCV1...
Objective
To determine infection prevention and control (IPAC) practices for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), an emerging threat, at acute-care hospitals in Ontario, Canada.
Design
A descriptive cross-sectional survey.
Methods
We surveyed IPAC directors and managers at all acute-care hospitals in Ontario, Canada, to gather inform...