MRSA, Is this true?

[cute2]

This comment was posted in the CNA forum. I wanted to ask the general forum, where RN's post, if this is true. I find this kind I of hard to believe. And if not true, the statement is rather careless, if not dangerous. Here is the quote:

"I agree with most of the above. If you've worked in direct patient care for more than a few months, chances are high that you have MRSA."

[kanzi monkey]

People say that all the time, but it's not true at all. You may be more likely to be colonized than an non-hcp, but you are not likely to be colonized.

Many people are colonized with SA as part of the normal flora. While you may have higher exposure to MRSA in a hospital, becoming colonized is NOT inevitable, so use your gown, gloves, and hand hygiene :)

[JulieCVICURN, BSN, RN]

Our infectious disease doc says that if you're taking proper precautions with isolation patients and universal precautions with the rest, plus washing your hands like you're supposed to that your risk is pretty minimal. He also said that the nursing population isn't more likely than the rest of the public to be colonized.

[AndieWoke]

i was a cna in a snf before i was a nurse and i remember a rehab patient we had who was very, very sick post surgery and also was positive for mrsa. although we used contact precautions when dealing with him he had extremely dry skin with a lot of flaking. one day we took off his ted hose to give him a bed bath, and you know how that is, they are tight and you pull them off inside out, and sure enough when we finally pulled them off a large number skin flakes came with them. the worst part about that was that some of them were visibly airborne. he was on contact precautions, not airborne therefore i wasn't wearing a mask and i am virtually certain i inhaled some. i never became ill but i bet i would test positive in my nares.

we get exposed to so many things just by accident, i don't know how we can prevent ourselves from that unless we surround ourselves with a bubble. that's not justification, i just don't have an idea for a solution.

thank heavens for our natural immune systems!

andie

[cute2]

Juliann,

I was being too dramatic. Especially without really knowing the truth. I should not assume that healthcare workers are as safe as the general public from things such as MRSA. And not being in healthcare yet, I did assume so, ignorantly.

I appreciate all the responses to my question!

[hello123]

I got the impression that many germs invade through the nose (including MRSA), so would physically rinsing your nasal passages with normal saline on a regular basis (like once or twice a week) help to wash out the colonies? Especially if you are a high-risk person like a healthcare worker? That would at least help to sweep out some of the colonies?

In the olden days, neti-pots and stuff were used. Now they have sinus rinses. Even for the swine flu, a doctor on TV said they were using sinus rinses / gargling saline to kill germs.

[juliaann]

No problem, cute2, and you're totally right it was careless of me to spout that off just because I've heard it frequently.

I've learned a lot from this thread, and I'm glad you've started it. :)

[efy2178]

Its probably true. And if you work in an endoscopy lab you are probably infected with H-pylori--there is research about that.