Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)

Health care providers and visitors are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and follow strict hand hygiene procedures. Contaminated rooms, surfaces, and laundry items are properly disinfected to prevent the spread of MRSA. In addition to policy and procedures, patient teaching is also helpful for preventing exposure and spread of MRSA. As aforementioned earlier, hand hygiene is key to prevent exposer or transmission of the bacteria. To properly wash your hand effectively, first scrub hands rapidly for at least 15 seconds. Next, use a disposable towel to dry them and another towel to turn off the faucet. In addition, hand sanitizer that contains 62 percent or more of alcohol may be an adequate substitute when the individual does not have access to soap and water (Mayo Clinic Staff,

Touching objects, such as public phones or doorknobs, that have MRSA bacteria on the surface.

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

The Joint Commission Accreditation Body assesses health care organization’s compliance with National Patient Safety Goals. The goal of the Joint Commission Body is to focus on critical aspects and patient safety issues in health care organizations, which can vary according to the setting of the health care being performed (Chassin, 2008). Infections occurring in surgical sites of patients account for 15% of all infections that transpire in a hospital setting, and the risk of death doubles in patients who develop infections. The dangers of surgical site infections include superficial, deep, and organ or space infections. The different infections include cellulitis, gangrene, MRSA, and wound sinus, which can lead to amputation, organ

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

Residents who are infected with MRSA, or similar superbug are treated with standard contact precautions while being given their medications.These include:

Action: After making these findings, she collaborated with the infection control staff, her manager, and her team to formulate a plan to solve this problem. At every huddle, she reminded staff the importance of washing their hands. She designed signage to remind staff, patients, and visitors to perform hand hygiene and to empower patients and family members to ask staff members if they have washed their hands. These signs were placed on all 25 patient room entrances and are a visible reminder to everyone who enters. She also educated staff to collaborate with the housekeeping staff to maintain functioning hand hygiene equipment. When performing as charge nurse, she audits all patient charts to confirm that each patient has had their nares swabbed to maintain compliance and assigns patients accordingly to beds based on their multiple drug resistant organism history. Outcome: Through random audits, she found that hand hygiene performance increased to 100%, and the staff is educating patients, family members, and other healthcare professionals in other disciplines about the hand hygiene compliance initiative. The C Diff transmission rate as of December 2015 was 39.45% - the C Diff transmission rate for first quarter FY16 was 18.48%, this shows a 50% reduction in C Diff transmission on her unit. The MRSA transmission rate as of December 2015 was 7.97% - MRSA transmission rate for first quarter FY16 was 3.7% which also shows a 50% reduction in MRSA transmission. Sustainability: She continues this to perform random audits, reinforcing education as needed and continues surveillance while performing duties on 7B. She made it the 7B staff’s responsibility to hold each other accountable for performing hand hygiene in order to maintain the safety of the

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive coccal bacterium which is estimated to have colonised 20-30% of the human population.1,2,3 S. aureus is normally found in the anterior nares and mucous membranes of these individuals. For the majority, this is not a problem as these people are colonised, not infected.2,3 However S. aureus is an opportunistic pathogen and if it contaminates a breach in the skin or mucous membranes, it can go on to infect any tissue in the body.3 Infection may lead to serious life threatening diseases such as pneumonia.4 Over time strains of S. aureus were able to develop resistance to antibiotics, resulting in strains known as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Results: Awareness: The study found that 61% of those who responded indicated that they had received educational information about MRSA in the past 12 months, 23% had not received information, and 16% were unsure. The most frequent source of information was from the MSHSAA. Of the people who received information, 64% had shared the information with their students, 48% indicated that the information had been shared with the parents of the athletes. 32% of respondents said that their school had written guidelines already in place for managing infections, 25% said their school did not, and 43% did not know if there were policies in place. Preventive Measures: The CDC guidelines to prevent MRSA infections include showering after practice and competition, using liquid soap rather than bar soap, and discouraging athletes from sharing towels and other personal items. Of the coaches and athletic directors who responded to the survey, only 5% said that athletes were required to shower with soap at school. Hand sanitizer was only reported to be available to 38% during gameplay. Only 83% of respondents reported always washing their hands after gameplay or after contact with blood and 63% reported always washing their hands after contact with infected, scraped, or cut skin. As to why there was not 100% hand hygiene after

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or more commonly, MRSA, is an emerging infectious disease affecting many people worldwide. MRSA, in particular, is a very interesting disease because although many people can be carriers of it, it generally only affects those with a depressed immune system; this is why it is so prevalent in places like nursing homes and hospitals. It can be spread though surgeries, artificial joints, tubing, and skin-to-skin contact. Although there is not one specific treatment of this disease, there are ways to test what antibiotics work best and sometimes antibiotics aren’t even necessary.

As outlined in Crow et al (8) following the standard precautions in wound management is essential to protecting the patient and health care provider from contamination of microbes. Microbes are essentially everywhere, on the body and in the environment (8). They are often found on equipment in the hospitals, long term care facilities, clinical care settings and are easily carried on the hands of health care providers (8). Health care providers are known to be great reservoirs for resistant microbes such as methicillin-resistance S.aureus (MRSA) (8). Lack of understanding and adherence of the standard precautions, i.e. proper hand washing, pose risk for microbes to be transferred from patient to patient and to be introduced into a patient`s wound (11). The susceptibility to infection is also much higher in certain patient populations (immunosuppressed, elderly, nutritional impaired) despite the strength or pathogenicity of the microbes

As nurses, taking care of patients with MRSA can be seen in everyday practice. It can be seen in patients with sepsis from an infected wound, patients who have pneumonia, or patients who only have a colonization for it (“Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 2015”). Regardless if it’s colonization or an active infection, and the source of the infection, proper policies and procedures are in place to reduce the transmission of MRSA to other patients in the hospital or nursing home setting. This includes performing proper hand hygiene and standard precautions, as well as wearing protective gown and gloves when entering the patient’s room. It is very important to adhere to these policies and procedures and educate others on the importance of these policies and procedures to reduce the transmission of MRSA to others.

The priority nursing diagnosis of hospital acquired infection is risk for any kind of infection. One of the main goals for each patient in the hospital is the patient will remain free of infection as evidence by absence of heat, pain, redness, or swelling in any area of the patient’s body during each nurse’s shift. (care plan book). Frequently hand washing is the best intervention for preventing infection. Hand washing reduces the risk of transmission of pathogens by inhibiting the growth of or killing the microorganisms. (cb)Proper sterile technique during urinary

Infection control within a healthcare facility is the prevention of the spread of many microorganisms from patient to patient, patient to a member of staff and also from the staff member to the patient that are in there care. The World Health Organisation have defined healthcare associated infections as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other healthcare facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. Every healthcare facility from hospitals to general practitioners office should have a designated member of staff or a team of people who ensure that the infection control procedures are abided by and adhered to at all times in order to protect both staff and patients. More than 300,000 people each year are affected by a healthcare associated infection and the cost of treatment for these patients is over £3,000 and there is also the cost of treatment after discharge.

Infection control is very important in the health care profession. Health care professionals, who do not practice proper infection control, allow themselves to become susceptible to a number of infections. Among the most dreaded of these infections are: hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Another infection which has more recently increased in prevalence is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These infections are all treated differently. Each infection has its own symptoms, classifications, and incubation periods. These infections are transmitted in very similar fashions, but they do not all target the same population.