M.R.S.A or mersa?

[Pepper The Cat]

I am taking an informal poll - just for my own curiostiy.

Do you pronounce MRSA (part 1) as

a) M. R. S. A. ( each letter pronounced on its own)

or

b) mersa.

And (part 2)

Are you

A) Canadian

or

B) American.

The reason I ask is that I have only heard it as M.R.S.A - yet in several instance involving Americans I've heard it as mersa. So I am curious to see if this is a regional thing, a country thing, or something else altogether!

[hearts895, RN BSN]

mersa - as if its a word, i'm american

I've noticed that people in my home state of WA say C.N.A - each letter pronounced

But in MI people say Ceena - as if its a word

kinda interesting to note

[Crux1024]

"Mersa"

American.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Thanks all.

A collegue and I we in a workshop and the leader kept talking about "mersa" and we were looking at each other going "What?". Then we figured it out.

Since then I've heard it on American TV or Radio shows, so i was just wondering if it was a Canadian/American thing or regional .

I've never heard anyone in Canada say "mersa".

[Meraki]

M.R.S.A - Canadian. I also have never heard it said as mersa...until this thread!

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

When I worked in Australia: MRSA

When I work in the US: mersa

[BluegrassRN]

I now say MRSA, but I used to say mersa. All but one of the nurses I work with say mersa, but most the docs say MRSA. When watching a video on it on medscape one time, it was pronounced MRSA, so I figured I'd update my pronunciation.

I'm in the central US.

I wanted to edit to add: the nurses I work with don't say "mersa", they pronounce it "marsa".

[SWS RN, ASN, RN]

mersa=America

Interesting about the CNA vs Ceena...never heard ceena (in 16 yrs)

[sparklie.lady]

Mersa...USA :)

[RNKPCE]

MRSA - American

[GonnaBSN]

I've only heard "mersa"

Usa

[XingtheBBB, BSN, RN]

I learned the pronounciation "mersa" over 15 years ago and it stuck. We used to write it as MRSa, not MRSA, but I haven't seen that in forever. I've actually seen nurses write "mersa" on a kardex... that was like nails on a chalkboard to me! I'm in the Mid-Atlantic area.

[Fiona59]

First time I heard mersa was from Robin whatsername on HLN. Figured it was a news anchor trying to sound "au courant". Then a co-worker came back from a medical mission (exposed to those pesky Americans) and said mersa.

We slapped her on the back of the head, reminded her she was Canadian and she never did it again.