if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById(’articleViewerGroup’).style.width = requestedWidth + “px”; document.getElementById(’articleViewerGroup’).style.margin = “0px 0px 10px 10px”; } HARTFORD — Patient advocates and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday called for better monitoring to reduce rates of the deadly staph infection MRSA in state hospitals.In response, the Connecticut Hospital Association on Wednesday announced a series of attempts to prevent and control such infections, including a “pledge” that state hospitals will use to control methacillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.
“There should be screening for MRSA whenever anybody at risk enters a hospital,” Blumenthal said, adding that “simple, common-sense” measures, such as more hand washing, can literally save lives.
“Thousands of people in Connecticut and 100,000 across the country die every year because of this disease,” he said. “It is totally and completely preventable.”
The legislation supported by Blumenthal and the nonprofit Connecticut Center for Patient Safety would require hospitals to screen cancer patients and those admitted to their intensive care units.
“Hospitals must be made safer,” he said. “I was struck in preparing this legislation that an enormous number of people become sick — from diseases that they did not go to the hospital to treat — while they were in the hospital.”
The legislation would also require annual reports to the Department of Public Health, detailing the number of patients who contracted MRSA infections.…. Read the rest of the story
In UK (NHS) spent almost £2 Billion since death rate due to MRSA increased. People and Ministers blamed dirty hospitals. Department of Health (UK) completed their study to identify causes and have published their result “Hospital organization, specialist mix, & MRSA”. The study clearly show there dirty hospitals, temporarily staff & over crowded hospitals have no significant increase in MRSA infection. They find disappearance of this relationship is puzzling.
The paper points out those infections occur through intravenous catheters or local site infection (would, puncture sites). Cannulae are used in 80% of patients in the hospital for administering fluids, antibiotics, or blood. Infection with Staphylococcus has increased since doctors started using IV Cannula in the last 20 years.
We feel the hospitals must invest in identifying why intravenous catheters (both peripheral and central) are associated and rectify the problem. We have noticed multiple attempts used to introduce IV cannula result in multiple puncture sites in the skin, poor skin preparation of skin in subsequent attempts (often) and poor hand washings is likely to have higher infection rate.
The cannula and catheter manufacturers are not investing in identifying this nor do they accept there is a problem. Various authors have published the result of their study since 1990s but we have not seen any changes introduced to prevent this trend.
It would be sensible to move forward and identify important factors than wasted resources in cleaning hospitals. Infection is brought into hospital by patients and visitors and it is unlikely we can maintain 100% sterile environment.
medifix
January 31, 2008