MRSA help!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi there everyone! I'm not a nurse (yet. I'm taking prereqs right now) but learned a bit about MRSA when I trained as an EMT. Yesterday, I started a job working at a group home, and I was reading his medical history and saw that he has "inactive mrsa". This was written only on one page out of about 100, which I thought was strange. Shouldn't this be on every single Facesheet and other documentation as well? When I asked my supervisor if he did have it, he responded that the institution he came from made all sorts of mistakes on their paperwork, and that he doesn't have it since he's without signs. Now, from my understanding, if you get mrsa once, you have it forever, right? And it's highly contagious? I feel like nobody knows what is going on where I work, and no one has told me about any risks. Is there a risk of contracting it even if it is inactive? The pt had a recent bout with 'acne', which from what I was reading could've been mrsa related ?? Should I push this and try to find out if he ever had it? Is my health at risk? Thanks for any advice you can give!

Specializes in ER/ ICU.

At our hospital we do not isolate for MRSA anymore. We do not screen for it either.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
at our hospital we do not isolate for mrsa anymore. we do not screen for it either.

yikes!! why is this?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My neighbor is an lpn, and said in her LTCF that all the nurses were swabbed by the cdc to test for mRSA(for study purposes) and over 50% had it ont heir hands, even after using proper precautions. my chidlrens ped said he had to drain several CA- MRSA infections last summer. And my mom was just hospitalized for MRSA pneumonia. Close call there.As soon as they foudn out she was infected with MRSa we had to wear gloves and gowns to see her. No clue how she got it either, but I believe CA due to the fact that my brother has had MRSA infections on his legs.

I also know soemone in Canada who runs a lab researching MRSA. Currently working on using viruses to kill MRSA.

Anyhow, its actually all the research on MRSA that made me decide to get into nursing. I guess it made me realize how much I wanted to knwo what the nurses knew about my moms condition, how insatiable my curiosity for the medical knowledge was(nevermind that I love watching medical reality shows). Scares my mom to death and she really wants me to try and avoid working any high contact areas for mRSA(ED, ICU, etc)

Still, from all the research I have done, from speaking to those who have worked with patients with it, I think that HA is a huge concern, but we should never underestimate the liklihood that any one of uis could carry it from a CA source.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

pardon my ignorance, but what is ca and ha?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CVICU.

Community-acquired and hospital-acquired.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in None.

I just addressed this in another thread but since I am not a doc or nurse, I only know what I have learned while I have been doing social media promotion for a couple healthcare associated infection-prevention sites to announce a new infection-prevention site called the HAI Watchdog Community. I would be happy to tell you more. I have been having a hard time because Watchdog is a healthcare professionals-only community! Thus, why I am here :) Long story short:

MRSA is a member of the extremely common staph family of infections. In 2005, this "super bug"

  • caused more than 94,000 life-threatening infections

  • caused nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States alone

Of these infections, 85% were associated with healthcare settings and an additional 15% were acquired in the community.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment