Can Pittsburgh Stop a National Epidemic?

by Ken Segel & Naida Grunden

Pittsburgh Hospital News

November 03

http://www.pghhospitalnews.com/110301PRHI.htm

Read about Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative to stop the spread of MRSA.

[luvrn]

The article says only 2 cases of VRE in the country....I have seen VRE at our hospital over the past 2 years or more....has anybody else???

[nursemaa]

We see VRE quite a bit, don't know where they got that number!

[Gldngrl]

I care for transplant patients, immunocompromised, so many have MRSA, VRE, and a host of other things, (some I hadn't heard of until I entered "Transplant Land":D). And many of our ICU rooms aren't rooms but bays,with curtains so maintaining precautions...it's difficult to say the least.

[memphispanda, RN]

It doesn't say VRE...it says MRSA that is vancomycin resistant. Two different bugs. And very scary.

[oramar]

Stop having meetings and charters and try decreasing patient to nurse ratio.

[Gldngrl]

Are they talking about a mutant strain of Vanc resistant MRSA?

There are multiple cases of MRSA treated with Vanc and the pts remain colonized so we treat them as infected upon every admission. I remember pts with MRSA in the nares being treated with Bactroban for example so Vanc isn't the only treatment per se and Vanc isn't the cure all, unfortunately.