Mrsa

[falcon]

We have an outbreak at our hosp. some of the pts. that have come back MRSA pos are the ones I have been taking care of. We all have to be screened. I'm so worried. Does anyone else have this and what does it mean for your future as an RN.

[loriangel14, RN]

One of my coworkers tested postive for MRSA but was not actively infected.It hasn't affected her in any way except that if she were to be hospitalized she would get a private room. Many of us are probably colonized with MRSA. We discharge to a lot of LTC facilities and they have no precautions for MRSA positive residents because it is so common and most residents are colonized.

[pepperann35]

I work in LTC in Florida. MRSA is widespread. Both of my kids have had MRSA wound infections as well as my co-workers, my co-workers friends and our Medical directors baby is very ill with it now and is being referred to a pediatric ID specialist. We only use universal precautions with MRSA infections. I have also seen an increase in c-diff, a new strain of Ecoli and 1 resident had necrotizing faciitis. Scary, isn't it?

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I have not been screened for MRSA, but have personally taken care of many patients either with active infection or history of infection. Our facility is treating MRSA very aggressively. We place any patient with a history of ever having had MRSA on the same precautions as if they had an active infection. This is because the person could still be colonized and we don't want to spread the bacteria to non-colonized patients. Currently, our MRSA surveillance consists of a nasal swab on anyone admitted to the ICU. They are not testing hospital staff.

[Fiona59]

Never heard of staff being swabbed unless they were being admitted as a patient.

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

Here, if anyone is from a nursing home or is a healthcare worker, on admission they are nasal swabbed for MRSA. Any open wound is also cultured. It is rampant were I work, ALOT of people end up having MRSA. I have also seen ALOT of C-diff. Ive only seen one necrotizing bacteria, thank God. I was a patient in the hospital I worked at, I was nasal swabbed on admission, but was discharged before I knew what the result was. Id like to know.

[Fiona59]

If you were "active" they would have contacted you.

[falcon]

Thanks, I have been told I'm neg. We do MRSA swabs on all premies admitted to the nursery. It's very difficult to explain to the parents how the baby could potentially got this and with family coming and going, who knows where it came from. I was wondering if anyone has experiance with becoming MRSA pos and how this impacts your job.

[JamRN29]

I started working for a new hospital. There was a break out of MRSA on our floor 2 different strains! The employees (including myself) were all tested. The hospital does MRSA swabs when a patient is admitted and has been at another facility within the last 6 months. I found out that I was positive for MRSA. I was shocked. I never had any symptoms. One of the patients on the floor had the same strain that I did. Infection control couldn't determine if I got it from her (she was not on contact isolation) or if she got it from me.

The hospital managed it very professionally. It was kept completely confidential. I was given bactrim ointment to apply to my nares for 7 days BID. After the 7 days I repeated the MRSA swab and then one more time after that. I was given treatment, not punished or even talked to. The patient also received treatment and had no signs of infection- Pt came in for a total unrelated matter- blood sugar control. The hospitals main concern was giving everyone treatment and controlling the outbreak- not trying to find blame. I think that's way it should be because a gown and gloves can reduce spread- not eliminate it.