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It's an acronym that can cause terror - MRSA. It stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and it is the bacteria that is often spread in hospitals and other health care settings, infecting about 95,000 Americans per year and killing 19,000, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Legislation recently introduced in Congress would require hospitals to screen patients to identify those who are carriers of MRSA, to help prevent the spread of the infection by identifying which patients need special handling. And Consumers Union is championing the bills.

HR 2937, sponsored in the House by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and a similar bill in the U.S. Senate - S 1305, sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. - also require hospitals to disclose MRSA rates to the public, so consumers can use that data in making health care decisions.

"MRSA infections are mostly preventable, but thousands of Americans die every year from them, and many more suffer needlessly because hospitals fail to protect patients from being exposed to these dangerous superbugs," said Lisa McGiffert, Director of Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project.

"This legislation will improve patient care and let the public know which hospitals have the best track record when it comes to preventing infections."

The CDC estimates nearly 19,000 Americans died in 2005 from MRSA infections, out of the 95,000 who contracted it and were treated for it in hospitals that year. It also says that 85 percent of those infections were acquired in the hospital or other health care settings.

In addition to strict hand hygiene, successful strategies for controlling MRSA include testing patients, isolating patients identified as having MRSA, using gowns, gloves and masks when treating them (contact precautions), and routine decontamination of patient rooms and operating rooms.

Under HR 2937, hospitals initially would be required to screen all patients admitted to intensive care units and other high-risk units to determine whether they are colonized with MRSA bacteria. By 2014, hospitals would be required to screen all patients for MRSA. The bill encourages hospitals to follow other effective infection-control strategies, such as strict hand hygiene and contact precautions to prevent the spread of MRSA to other patients.

The practices described in the bill have been found to dramatically reduce the incidence of antibiotic-resistant infections. The Veterans Health Administration adopted these strategies at all of its 150 hospitals after a pilot program in Pennsylvania resulted in a 70 percent reduction of MRSA infections in surgical units. Other hospitals have used these strategies to achieve even larger reductions in MRSA infections.

The CDC says rates of infection varied between geographically diverse sites, but overall rates of disease were consistently highest in people older than 65, blacks and males.

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, or APIC, has found that only 29 percent of the infection control professionals it surveyed reported that their hospitals screened patients to identify those with MRSA. Other research has consistently found that hand hygiene compliance rates in hospitals are typically below 50 percent, according to Consumers Union.

"A national standard for prevention and disclosure of hospital acquired MRSA infections is needed to curb this epidemic," said Bill Vaughan, senior health policy analyst for Consumers Union. "This legislation will ensure that patients in every U.S. hospital are given the same protection against these sometimes deadly infections."

For more information on how to prevent MRSA, visit:

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/

ar_mrsa_prevention.html or:

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/

ar_mrsa_ca_prevention.html

Consumer Action will respond to each properly submitted letter about a problem or question, either in this column or by letter or phone. Letters must include copies - not originals - of all relevant documentation and a name, address and phone number at which you can be reached. Send letters to: Consumer Action, The Press, 11 Devins Lane, Pleasantville, NJ 08232.

1 comment:

• ConcernedRN (1) posts 11:47 am

  As a healthcare professional working in Infection Prevention this article was very disturbing. First, hospital's are fully aware of the effects MRSA and other drug-resistant organizms have on the welfare of their patients and the public. In my daily work MRSA as well as other infectious organizms are tracted and precautions instituted for the prevention of their spreading to others. Monitoring of staff as well as Physicians is also done to ensure that proper hand hygiene and precautions are being followed. Secondly,MRSA is on the rise in communities and schools. I, myself have sent information to assist school nurses in the prevention of MRSA acquirement within my community as well as going out to schools to teach elementary students on the importance of proper hand washing and cough etiquette. I am sure other Infection Preventionist also work with their community partners. Thirdly, contact precautions do not require the use of masks. Masks are required for droplet and airborne precautions (check your CDC guidelines). Lastly, this bill would cost hosptials millions of unnecessary dollars. It is standard practice to treat every patient as if they have a potential disease and use the necessary precautions based on their signs and symptoms. Hospitals have enough regulatory bodies without the federal government getting involved in issuing legislation on how they treat their patients. Everyone from the insurance companies to now, governmental officials think they know how to treat or deny patients treatment and medications. Since when did insurance companys or legislators get their MD or RN. We as healthcare providers know what our duty is to our patients and take it seriously. If there are some that do not, they need to look for another profession. ConcernedRN

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