MRSA and Isolation

icyounurse, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2008

Totally agree. Especially when its like a history of MRSA in the urine or something and they have a catheter and their IV pump beeps constantly or they are on the call light non stop and you use like 20 plastic gowns an hour. Very annoying. I almost think unless its an obvious case they should be retested upon admit and go from there instead of automatically placing the patient on precautions.

Becca608 · Aug 13, 2008

I bet all of us would test positive for MRSA regardless! :clown:

tgirl84 · Aug 13, 2008

HAHA! So true! There is a nurse that I work with that has a MRSA song and dance that he sings every night, "I got the MRSA on me... I got the MRSA on me...."

TLCinCICU · Aug 13, 2008

I half-expect that anyone who provides direct patient contact will be cultured for MRSA at least yearly. They could even choose to treat us "for prophylaxis" periodically in the pursuit of keeping the costs of nosocomial infections down.

Our ICUs have just begun the practice of placing every admission/transfer into contact isolation and collecting a swab for MRSA. The lab does a rapid test for MRSA and the patient is released from isolation if it is negative. It came about as part of Medicare's "never event" list. If it can be proven that someone already was a MRSA carrier, they can't deny to pay for any MRSA infection by saying it was nosocomial.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Aug 13, 2008

We test everyone for VRE once a week too,- more gowns and gloves.

mpccrn, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2008

MRSA and VRE can be picked up in your local Wal-Mart or convience store.......no extra charge. isolation techniques now a days differ quite a bit from those i learned many many years ago. why gown up and glove when the isolation linen is put with the general hospital linen or the dietary trays and silverware is put with all the rest? when the axillary services observe isolation techniques then maybe it would make sense for nurses to do the same....until then, gloves is all i'm doing! :smokin:

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2008

Had a pt with MRSA in the skin, nares, blood, and probably hair follicles -- I mean everywhere. Everywhere we swabbed was positive.

Guess where he works? The only McDonalds in town.

"Would you like MRSA fries with your Big Mac? Here's your change..."

achot chavi · Aug 13, 2008

definite overkill- and abusive to a patient- who has to be treated like he has - well- MRSA even when he's clean. I had hepatitis a 5+ years ago- they even let me donate blood and if I'm good that day- they will shake my hand- sans gloves. My kids had chicken pox 6 years ago- can I take them out of quarantine yet?

rndog · Aug 13, 2008

I work in a PICU that will put a MRSA + patient who is on contact isolation in the same room with other patients. So if the others weren't positive before, they will be before they leave. Plus, we culture for MRSA but don't implement contact isolation measures until the result is back. So why bother. Ridiculous.

nyemt195488 · Aug 13, 2008

Having had both MRSA and VRE 5+ years ago as I patient I can tell you I cry everytime I need to be admitted to the hospital because I know that I am going to be on contact precautions which means my 2 year old cant see me. Now I completely understood being on precautions when I the cultures were positive but I am tested every 6 months and every test has been negative. I realize the seriousness of both diseases, however, at some point you just have to go on to other worries. I live in a very rural area and was transferred 3 hours away to a large hospital because of my history of MRSA and VRE just because I had a fever of 102. They said it was the best thing to do with my history but never did they consider the stress they were causing me or the emotional trauma of being so far from my son without very good reason. I got to the "city" hospital and was released 72 hours later with negative cultures and no reason for the fever. Talk about a waste of insurance money, not only was I a emergency transfer taking one of our two ambulances out of service for 7+ hours, but the "city" hospital ran over 20 tests all for nothing.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2008

Hx of mrsa in the left 3rd toe...and now they have a Left leg BTK amputation.