...Screening and Decolonization of MRSA in the Preoperative Patient Suzanne Miller Aspen University HUM410 Abstract Staphylococcus aureus is the most common organism responsible for surgical site infections. The colonization of Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been identified as a significant risk factor for patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, putting this patient at a higher risk of developing a surgical site infection. Screening preoperatively and treating colonization is a tool to aid in the prevention of surgical site infections in patients undergoing elective joint surgery. Results of various studies of patients undergoing elective joint replacement surgery have been reviewed. A nasal swab was obtained and cultured during preadmission testing. If the culture showed that the patient was positive for MRSA colonization they were treated with nasal mupirocin. They also were instructed to bathe with surgical wipes containing chlorhexidine prior to the procedure. The results of the research suggest that the use of a screening protocol prior to surgery can decrease the risk of MRSA in the postoperative patient. Table of Contents 1. Literature Review........................................................................................................................4 2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................7 3. Conclusion................
Words: 2617 - Pages: 11
...Effects of Isolation on Patients with MRSA Jeffrey W. Lyter Grand Canyon University: NRS 433 August 2, 2013 Effects of Isolation on Patients with MRSA Methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become a dangerous and common occurrence within the healthcare setting. The methods to prevent the spread of MRSA infection are well known such as: covering wounds, cleaning hands, not sharing of personal items and maintaining a clean environment are well established (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). This, however, can subject patients to decreased contact with medical staff, treatment times, and use to facilities and equipment for rehabilitation. Patients in isolation often develop feelings of seclusion and depression. Nursing staff faced with increasing time constraints and responsibilities may also find donning of personal protective equipment (PPE), each time when entering a patients room, unreasonable and frustrating. While the current methods of isolation have proven effective and best practice, it is imperative to acknowledge and be mindful to the potentially adverse effects that accompany the isolating patients with MRSA. Examination of the study, “Patient experience of source isolation: Lessons for clinical practice”, will reveal the issues, methods, implications and ethical concerns familiar with patients isolated due to MRSA. Research Summary The mounting rates of MRSA infections reported worldwide have prompted the healthcare...
Words: 1193 - Pages: 5
...a device(1). The current probability of infection in health-care facilities is relatively high, and the risk of death is not negligible. Data from the National Institute of Health (NIH) indicates that 4 million such infections occur in America every year, causing around 37,000 deaths. According to a study carried out by the Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care Is Safer Care, at any one time more than 1.4 million people in the world are suffering from nosocomial infections. In developed countries, there is an incidence of 5%–10% in the total number of inpatients. Hospital infections are also a major economic challenge for public health-care systems due to the impact they have upon health-care costs(2). For example, infection by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) prolongs the average hospital stay by four to fourteen days, producing an increase in variable costs from between $10,000 and $36,000 per patient(3). The cost, associated mainly with the increase in the number of days of hospitalization, can vary from $4,000 (for a patient hospitalizedin the department of medicine) to $28,000 (for a patient in intensive care)(4). In fact, the highest frequency of...
Words: 2964 - Pages: 12
...“Reptile Blood a cure” Amy Parsons HCA/210 September 10, 2012 Cathy Wilburn Abstract In this paper, I will inform you of the ways that Reptile blood has been tested in hopes of finding cures for different diseases. There are several people testing the reptilian blood in experiments to help find a cure for a number of diseases. The thought of using a reptile’s blood to cure someone is a strange one. However, it was brought to the attention of Dr. Mark Merchant, of McNeese State University, that crocodiles, as well as other reptiles, heal with a great deal of quickness. He wondered how they could fight with such aggression and remain healthy. They fight to the points, sometimes, that they rip off limbs and expose bone and muscle. Then they swim off, into mucky, filthy water and yet they still do not get any kind of major infection. Humans exposed to the same type of battles and the same disgusting water they would have a devastating outcome, possibly death. This gave him and others ideas to check into their blood to see if they had something humans lacked. In 1998, Dr. Merchant found that American Alligators have a powerful antibiotic in their blood. Dr. Merchant demonstrated the “unscientific” evidence suggesting that reptile are resistant to bacterial infection. He identified reasons these creatures were immune to infection. Like humans, they have a natural defense system against invading bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which involves a group of proteins...
Words: 929 - Pages: 4
...and provide public health; there are necessary regulations and guidelines to ensure the purpose of the agency is being met. This paper will explore the needs, stakeholders, expected outcomes, and other regulatory action and implementation of the FDA. Introduction: The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) is a regulation which was proposed by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) to establish a list of “qualifying pathogens” that are likely to cause serious harm to public health. FDASIA utilizes the agency’s ability to protect and improve public health by giving the authority to collect user fees, promoting innovation, increasing stakeholder involvement, and enhancing the safety of the drug supply chain. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a “staph” germ that does not improve with the first-line antibiotics that typically cure staph infections. When this takes place, the germ is “resistant” to the antibiotic. This class of antibiotics includes penicillin, amoxicillin, oxacillin, methicillin, and others. (MRSA, MedlinePlus) MRSA has commonly been known as a hospital-acquired infection as the staph germs are mainly spread by skin-to-skin contact. Recently, new strains have developed in the public that can cause normally healthy people to have severe infections. Over the past four decades, MRSA has transformed from a maintainable nuisance to a serious public health concern. (Antimicrobial (Drug)...
Words: 2680 - Pages: 11
...MRSA decontamination using octenidine-based products Mindaugas Danilevicius, Audra Juzéniené, Indré Juzénaité-Karneckiené, Anželika Veršinina Key words: Decontamination ■ Hospitalised patients ■ Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ■ Octenidine Mindaugas Danilevicius, 2UAB ‘Apiterapija’, Vilnius, Lithuania, Audra Juzéniené, Indré Juzénaité-Karneckiené, Republican Vilnius University Hospital, Department of Infection Control, Vilnius, Lithuania Accepted for publication: July 2015 S36 I British Journal of Nursing, 2015 (Tissue Viability Supplement), Vol 24, No 15 © 2015 MA Healthcare Ltd Abstract Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are an increasing problem worldwide with a high risk of severe illness and mortality in hospitalised patients. Patients with chronic wounds are at particular risk of developing MRSA infections. As octenidinebased products have shown promising success in decontamination in the past, the aim of the present study was to determine its efficacy, safety, and tolerability in decontaminating hospitalised MRSApositive patients. Methods: From 1 April 2011 until 9 November 2012, 36 patients were screened MRSA-positive at the Republican Vilnius University Hospital, Vilnius, Lithuania. At least three swab tests were performed for each patient to screen for MRSA, one from each nostril and one from the perineum. In patients with wounds, an additional swab was taken from the wound surface...
Words: 3211 - Pages: 13
...is already cured so it will not affect them. What about the patient coming in the room next? It is left to the housekeepers to clean the room well enough to prevent the spread of these infections. These infections that are spread from one patient to another are called nosocomial infections. They are hospital acquired bacteria’s. I came to this topic after my daughter had this exact thing happen to her. She is a brittle diabetic and at one point required a lot of hospital visits. After one of these visits she started to develop a boil. This in turn caused her blood sugar to go up and we ended up back in the hospital. Thinking the boil was a spider bite we were surprised to find out it was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). They explained that it was a nosocomial infection that was probably acquired on our last hospital visit. When asked how she got it they said it was multi resistant and was passed from something she came in contact with that another patient would have touched. This is a problem that has been on the rise over the recent decade. Because bacteria has become more resistant for other reasons they live on surfaces longer. Once they find a person who has a weakened immune system or no antibiotic in their system they settle in on the new host. The issue has been addressed in many hospitals and cleaning measures have stepped up a notch. But the problem continues to rise and new techniques are...
Words: 1505 - Pages: 7
...any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country as reported in the March 2009, “Trends in Healthcare Costs and Spending” by Kaiser Family Foundation. Given the unusual relationships in healthcare between consumers, payers, and providers, the ethical implications involved in healthcare decisions, it is nearly impossible to define the “right” amount to be spend in healthcare. As our nation is debating what the appropriate amount to be spend on healthcare is, this project aims on understanding the drivers for this high cost and possible ways to control them. One of the important drivers for this high healthcare cost that we identified and will discuss in this paper is unnecessary care. Although there are number of factors contributing to unnecessary care, this paper focuses on four key issues mainly sterilization, hospital acquired infections, medical errors and hospital readmissions. Sterilization: Background of the issue Hospitals are hygienic paradoxes. It is where patients are cured from diseases and acquire a new one. Hospital hygiene is difficult to achieve. According to the World Health Organization estimates, “more than 1.4 million people worldwide are affected by infections acquired in hospitals” (Cleanhospitals.net). Why are there so many unclean hospitals and what body of people holds them accountable for medical negligence? How do you eliminate hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and improve hospital hygiene standards? ...
Words: 5308 - Pages: 22
...Change in Practice: Preventing Hospital Associated Infections April Shannon Walden University NURS 4000 Section 04, Research and Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice November 18, 2012 Change in Practice: Preventing Hospital Associated Infections Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” With the increasing costs of healthcare and the emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms this truth still resonates today. Hospital associated infections (HAIs), have been a complication in hospitals for many years. The purpose of this assignment is to address this problem in nursing practice, and discuss evidence on practices that will address this issue. The problem Hospital associated infections (HAIs) can be defined as an infection acquired in hospital by a patient who was admitted for a reason other than that infection. 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. This includes infections acquired in the hospital but appearing after discharge, and also occupational infections among staff of the facility (central line associated bloodstream infections, catheter associated urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, ventilator associated pneumonia, etc.) (World Health Organization, 2002). HAI’s have become one of the leading caused of hospital related deaths in the United States. However, these infections...
Words: 1568 - Pages: 7
...most part, most of do this, but I did not see everyone following this protocol, especially doctors. Most of the staff only use the sanitizer all of the time. The only time hand washing protocol seems to be followed fully is when I witness sterile procedures. This is a problem and causes increased occurrence of healthcare associated infections (HAIs), but it is difficult to ensure healthcare staff practice proper hand hygiene. From my previous work experiences, protocols were not in place and patients were not encouraged to wash their hands before and after meals, after elimination or at any point they felt their cleanliness had been jeopardized. Equally important to washing hands is drying them. Proper drying materials such as disposable paper towels need to be available...
Words: 750 - Pages: 3
... Maeve Sullivan d , Maureen Walsh d , Bernadette S. Creaven d , Fathima Laffir e , Brendan Duffy a,∗ , Patrick McHale b a Centre for Research in Engineering Surface Technology (CREST), FOCAS Institute, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin 8, Ireland School of Biological Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin 8, Ireland c Nanolab Research Centre, FOCAS Institute, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin 8, Ireland d Centre for Pharmaceutical R&D, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Ireland e Materials & Surface Science Institute, University of Limerick, Dublin, Ireland b a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Microbial colonisation on clinical and industrial surfaces is currently of global concern and silane based sol–gel coatings are being proposed as potential solutions. Sol–gels are chemically inert, stable and homogeneous and can be designed to act as a reservoir for releasing antimicrobial agents over extended time periods. In the present study, silver nitrate (AgN) and a series of silver coumarin complexes based on coumarin-3-carboxylatosilver (AgC) and it is 6, 7 and 8 hydroxylated analogues (Ag6, Ag7, Ag8) were incorporated into sol–gel coatings. The comparative antibacterial activity of the coatings was determined against meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and multidrug resistance Enterobacter cloacae WT6. The percentage growth inhibitions were found in the range of 9.2 (±2.7)–66.0 (±1.2)%...
Words: 6951 - Pages: 28
...Does anyone ever think about what they’ve flushed down their toilet or rinsed down the sink? While looking at many of the current articles related to environmental health, I’ve learned that we, as a whole, are ruining our water supplies for the future. We have continuously flushed whatever we don’t want to deal with into our sewer systems. The toxins, mostly from cleaning supplies and body treatment products are being reintroduced into our water sources. The waste water treatment facilities are efficient in removing the organic waste from the water supply, but they are not active in removing chemicals, and nutrients from the water table. I would like to discuss a few things that everyone should know about our waste water treatment facilities and what we can do to protect ourselves from being poisoned by our tap water. First, I would like to go over a few of the intricacies of our wastewater facility in Chillicothe. Second, I am going to discuss the chemicals, nutrients, and hormones that are occurring in our supply water due to the lack of regulations and filtration of our wastewater facilities. Third, I am going to discuss a few ideas that may aid the problem. Let me begin by first describing the waste water treatment process in our Chillicothe area. The Easterly Chillicothe Waste Water Treatment Facility is the subject of my studies because it affects most of us here today. Waste water is drained into the sewer by everyone living in the eastern side of the city....
Words: 3495 - Pages: 14
...Why Are There So Many Deaths Caused By Medical Errors and What Solutions Can Decrease Them? Health Service Systems – HSM541 June 20 2015 Background Medical errors kill at least 44,000 people and perhaps as many as 98,000 people per year. Or do they kill over 180,000 per year? Maybe even 440,000 people killed by medical errors? Allen (2013) In 1999 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a report titled “To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health System” that leveled the healthcare community. They reported that according to two studies “perhaps as many as 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented”. IOM (1999) Then the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services followed up with a report in 2010 that stated “bad hospital care contributed to the deaths of 180,000 patients in Medicare alone in a given year”. Allen (2013) And finally in 2013, the numbers were once again raised. Per a report from the Journal of Patient Safety that approximately “440,000 PAEs (preventable/potential adverse events) that contribute to the death of patients each year from care in hospitals. This is roughly one-sixth of all deaths that occur in the United States each year”. They are now the U.S.’s third leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer. All of the numbers mentioned in the first paragraph are medical errors that were “preventable”. Mistakes by the people you put your trust in killed you...
Words: 5284 - Pages: 22
...Hand Hygiene Change Project Capstone NU296 September 18, 2013 Introduction The lack of hand washing and/or hand sanitizing is a leading cause of nosocomial infections in healthcare facilities not only here in Nevada, but across the United States. Hand washing is one of the biggest contributing factors in stopping the spread of infections throughout the healthcare environment. Nosocomial infections could be dramatically reduced by monitoring and enforcing hand washing and/or “gel in, gel out” policies of each facility. This could also lower the length of stay per patient, and greatly reduce the medical care cost per patient. Analyze the current situation and provide evidence based resources to support the need for change and your proposed plan. Include ethical, legal, or standards of care implications. Washing hands as promptly and thoroughly as possible between patient contact and after contact with blood, bodily fluids, secretions, excretions, and medical equiptment contaminated by patients is a huge element in infection control. Hand hygiene is recognized by infection prevention and control experts as the single most important intervention in decreasing the spread of infection in healthcare facilities. Unclean hands are the main transporters for germs between people and inanimate objects (i.e. blood pressure cuffs, bed rails, call lights, etc…). It is imperative to practice...
Words: 1990 - Pages: 8
...1 Evidence Based Practice Proposal Paper: 2 Acupuncture Treatment and Needle Transmitted Infection 3 4 5 6 7 9 Acupuncture Treatment and Needle Transmitted Infection Problem Identification Acupuncture is a coherent and self-consistent body of knowledge based on a philosophy which differs radically from the conventional Western worldview. Rather than seeing disease as the result of a single causative agent, acupuncture medicine regards illness as a pattern of disharmony, a function of both internal and external phenomena adversely affecting the whole person (Prady et al, 2007). In other words, it describes the universe as a dynamic system, within which all phenomena are interrelated. It has been one of the most popular complementary and alternative therapies for the treatment of pain conditions in developed countries (Barns et al, 2004). The report from a Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1997 stated that acupuncture is being widely practiced by thousands of physicians, dentists, acupuncturists, and other practitioners for relief or prevention of pain and for various other health conditions. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey of NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), an estimated 3.1 million U.S. adults and 250,000 children had...
Words: 3245 - Pages: 13
