Decreasing MRSA Outbreaks: A Case Study

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or more commonly, MRSA can be transmitted in two separate ways, therefore giving it two different names. One way it is spread is by way of hospitals, giving it the name health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA). Another way it is spread is through busy areas with a lot of crowding, therefore naming it community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA). MRSA is considered an emerging disease because the prevalence of the disease has increased over the past few decades.

Describe methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and its implications for patients who are diagnosed with this.

MRSA is spread by contact, so for example, touching another person who has it on the skin, or by touching objects the bacteria has transferred to. These particular infections are frequent amongst those with weak immune systems and those in hospitals, nursing homes, care centers, etc., because the superbugs crop up around surgical wounds or invasive devices such as catheters or implanted feeding tubes. The

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a bacterium that is resistant to many available high- level beta-lactam antibiotics, which include penicillins, “antistaphylococcal” penicillins and cephalosporins. Staphyloccoci are the most important bacteria that cause disease in humans. MRSA is sometimes branded as a nosocomial infection as it usually plagues patients that are receiving treatment in a hospital. The skin is the most common site of infection, where MRSA can cause cellulitis, folliculitis, or boils in the skin, but can also commonly be found in the nose, underarm, groin, upper respiratory tract, intestine, vagina and rectal areas of the body. MRSA infections occur with there is a break in the skin that allows the Methicillin resistant

MRSA is a skin infection that can potentially lead to death if not properly treated. Symptoms include rash, headaches, body aches, chills, fever, extreme fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, and chest pains. The rash may appear as pimples or boils and can be quite painful. There are two types of MRSA. HA-MRSA is an infection that was contracted in a hospital or healthcare setting and CA-MRSA is an infection contracted by a healthy individual in the community. Often times, those who contract CA-MRSA have a fragile immune system, play sports that require contact to contact, live with health care professional, or live in contaminated environments. Student athletes are most at risk. They can catch infections from gyms and locker rooms that weren 't properly cleaned. If there is any suspicion of having the infection, one should go to their doctor to determine if it is a MRSA infection. The longer one waits the harder it will be to treat it.

Both health care-associated and community-associated strains of MRSA still respond to certain antibiotics. In some cases, antibiotics may not be necessary. For example, doctors may drain a superficial abscess caused by MRSA rather than treat the infection with drugs. In the hospital, people who are infected or colonized with MRSA often are placed in contact precautions as a measure to prevent the spread of MRSA. Visitors and health care workers caring for people in isolation may be required to wear protective garments and must follow strict hand hygiene procedures. Contaminated surfaces and laundry items should be properly disinfected. Preventing MRSA includes careful hand washing remains your best defense against germs. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol for times when you don't have access to soap and water. Keep cuts and abrasions clean and covered with sterile, dry bandages until they heal. The pus from infected sores may contain MRSA, and keeping wounds covered will help prevent the bacteria from spreading. Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, sheets, razors, clothing and athletic

ICUs have complex patient populaces, which can act as vessels for breeding and disseminating MRSA throughout the rest of the hospital. Daily chlorhexidine bathing has been proven through multiple studies as an effective method to prevent or reduce the prevalence of MRSA and other hospital acquired infections in ICUs; however, there is not consistent buy-in by nursing staff in some ICUs. In an effort to better utilize the evidence-based research and increase patient health-outcomes hospitals should educated and train staff on proper bathing protocols to optimized

When penicillin was released to the public in 1944, it was a miracle drug. Infections that had been killers were suddenly treatable. Doctors recommended it generously, both for illnesses that needed it and illnesses that didn’t. Before long, however, it took much stronger doses to see penicillin’s effects. When the antibiotic arms race began in 1944, most physicians assumed that new antibiotics would be discovered or created to keep up with the evolving resistance in bacteria, but the bacteria are constantly evolving new defenses and doctors are starting to run low on antibiotic ammunition. MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is one of many types of bacteria

Nurse Practioner should be aware of certain assessments to obtain in determining MRSA. Some tests/assessments are skin cultures, cultures of drainage, nose swabs, blood culture, urine culture, and sputum cultures. NP should teach licensed and unlicensed personnel prevention strategies such as hand washing, wearing a mask when needed, universal precautions, isolation measures, avoidance of shaking sheets and clothing, and reporting of any abnormalities noted like unusual skin eruptions or open oozing sores.

MRSA which is short for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus is a staph or skin contamination that is resistant to a part of the most grounded anti-toxins. At the point when Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Auereus was initially found a few years prior when it spread in many healing centers and after that into the group, this contamination was known as one of the primary diseases to be resistant to the most effective anti-microbials. Staph contaminations have been referred to following the mid twentieth century as one of the deadliest infections. Staphylococcal contaminations are maladies brought about by various staphylococcal microscopic organisms. Twenty to thirty percent of all sound people get this contamination in the

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a nosocomial infection that is common among the residents of nursing homes. The use of specific interventions to control the spread of MRSA have been successful in hospitals and other healthcare settings, not including nursing homes. This study aims to discover if these same interventions will be successful in controlling the spread of MRSA in nursing homes. Nursing homes that participated in this study were randomly assigned to either continue offering the same level of care or to implement the new interventions. All the residents who participated in this study were educated about MRSA. Samples were obtained from the participants through either a nasal swab, a wound swab, or a urine sample

In 1961, soon after the introduction of methicillin, the first β-lactamase-resistant penicillin, strains of Staphylococcus aureus that were resistant to methicillin were identified in the United Kingdom. From the 1960s into the early 1970s, MRSA infections in Europe were limited largely to hospital outbreaks caused predominantly by S. aureus phage type 83A (subsequently identified to be sequence type 250; this so-called “archaic clone” gradually became infrequent and was replaced in the 1970s and 1980s by five prevalent clonal lineages, although many MRSA backgrounds existed between the 1960s and 2000. The terms Community-Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) and hospital acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA) have been used to call attention both to the genotypic differences of certain MRSA isolates as well as to the epidemiological and clinical features of the

MRSA is known to be very contagious. The way a person attains this specific infection is through physical contact. Meaning if one has a cut or open wound the disease can enter there upon being transmitted the infection by another individual. People don’t necessarily have to come into contact with those infected in order for them to contract it. People are actually more susceptible contracting it through certain surfaces that have been contaminated by the disease. Common places to attain this disease are places with constant traffic of people such as hospitals, gyms, locker rooms, or pools.

For hospital MRSA (HA-MRSA) is you are positive for MRSA in a wound or colonized you are placed on contact precautions and surface that has or can become contaminated is disinfected (Mayo). Colonized means that you have MRSA bacterium in your nose which is the most common place for it to thrive. For these patient using triple antibiotic inside the nares for a week to 10 days will decrease the colonization and risk for it getting into an open wound. For both types of MRSA hand washing is the number one defense on stopping the spread. All it takes is 15 seconds of hand scrubbing and drying them with a throw away towel. If hand washing is not feasible at that point of time hand sanitizer with 62% of alcohol can be substituted (Mayo). Other key to prevent community MRSA (CA-MRSA) is keeping wounds covered, not sharing personal items, showering after participating in any athletic event, and sanitizing linens.

There has been success in recent years controlling the spread of these infections there is still more work to be done to minimize transmission. A study analyzing data from the Center for Disease Control that found rates of MRSA bloodstream infections occurring in hospitalized patients fell nearly 50% from 1997 to 2007 (Deron, Burton, Edwards, Horan, Jerningan and Fridkin, 2009 ). Nurses need to be knowledgeable on infection control issues. There is protocol being practiced in this hospital, but there always room for improvement by reinforcing isolation precaution to staff and