Originally Posted by LaMariachita My clinical site runs rampant with MRSA and C. diff. Our instructor told us that now, after a semester in the hospital, we all probably have it colonized in our nares. While being colonized doesn't mean that you are infected and will be symptomatic, it can cause an increased risk for post-op infections in the future.
I don't know much about MRSA either, and besides the risk for post-op complications, I don't know the long-term implications of being colonized. If I am hospitalized in the future, are my chances much higher of being infected wiht MRSA, or of devloping sepsis?
To give you an idea of how one can go from being colonized to being actively infected/symptomatic, here's a story from one of my nurse peers: She works med/surg, sometimes taking care of active MRSA patients. She went for a hysterectomy and developed active MRSA at the op site. She did not know she was colonized prior surgery. She was fine until placed in a vulnerable state, ie, an open surgical site, lowered resistance.
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