One surgeon at our facility wants to have all the Operating Theatre staff swabbed for MRSA screening.
I am not against this or actually for it. Some of our patients do come back with Post op MRSA infection. It is not, however, the predominant micro-organism that is infecting our patients. (Since most patients go home after many big procedures it's hard to know exactly where they got the infection when it is a superficial infection, not a deep or organ space infection.) While we do not screen our patients (unless the MD wants to) all our Pt's are decolonized the day of surgery regardless of screen or no screen.
I was asked to investigate the legal side of this, as well as the practical side. So far all articles I have looked at seem to support the screening and treatment of staff. Sadly most indicate that staff usually become re-colonized and their MRSA becomes more resistant to the treatments. So, it seems like it is not worth the expense.
Anyone have any information they can point me to? Especially about the re-colonization. Its tough as most articles only followed the people de-colonized for 3-6 weeks... THanks all. This is an infection control topic really, but I think more eyes will see it in general nursing!