MRSA in the NICU.....question for you

[carolina_girl]

Hi all,

I'm curious how you go about protecting yourselves in caring for babies who test positive for MRSA. A friend of mine works in a NICU that just had a huge outbreak....sounds like chaos.

Anyways, what have you seen in terms of MRSA in your respective NICUs, and what do you do to prevent yourself (other than the standard universal precautions), and the other patients?

Thanks for your help!

[sparkyRN]

Sorry, just a curious reader... what does MRSA stand for?

It is actually highly colonized in some populations. Many people have the bacteria without having an infection. It is often found in the nasopharynx and on the skin. The problem with it is that it is easily spread by contact and if a suseptible patient becomes septic with it, they can become fatally ill. The only treatment (that I know of) is IV vancomycin.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

It is actually highly colonized in some populations. Many people have the bacteria without having an infection. It is often found in the nasopharynx and on the skin. The problem with it is that it is easily spread by contact and if a suseptible patient becomes septic with it, they can become fatally ill. The only treatment (that I know of) is IV vancomycin.

If they are actively sick and have a MRSA-positive blood culture or tracheal aspirate, we do a vancomycin course. If it's just from the skin swab, we don't treat it at all, just keep the baby and its family in isolation for the remainder of their hospitalization. I really wish we'd use Bactroban again - we did once, swabbing the baby's nares a couple times a day with the stuff. She did fine, ended up being negative after that and we were able to remove her from isolation.

[sparkyRN]

If they are actively sick and have a MRSA-positive blood culture or tracheal aspirate, we do a vancomycin course. If it's just from the skin swab, we don't treat it at all, just keep the baby and its family in isolation for the remainder of their hospitalization.

We do the same.