Mrsa

[philippians4:13]

I am a private duty CNA that works for a staffing agency. I was sent to an assited living facility and have been with my patient there for 4 months. Saturday after I helped him shower and into the dining area for breakfast I reasd the notes on his desk from the night girl and saw he has MRSA. I was pretty upset that there was no warning in his room or that a nurse or aid couldnt have told me. Then as the day went on I saw that the aids didnt know and neither did housekeeping. Nobody was taking the extra precautions outlineed in the notes. The notes are for the private aids but why werent the staff aids notified? Later in the day I saw protective gowns stuffed in the corner of patients room. I guess I was suppose to be wearing them but the notes didnt say that so I went and found a nurse and she said to wear them. The aids were afraid to come in his room or help him to bathroom . There were no gloves. It toook 3 hours for the nurse to get me a box of gloves and she was ******. Families are suppose to provide supplies to private duty aids. She was the only nurse on duty for the entire facility. My patient was in transition to another unit so he had to spend the day there and then come back to his own unit for the night. None of the aids knew he had MRSA and were not taking the extra precautions with him so I informed them and helped them to get the extra supplies needed. Garbage bags for double bagging his depends and laundry.Gowns for protection. Pads for him to sit on in case of urine leakage on the living room furniture. They had no supplies and the nurse was ****** that she had to get them for us. The aids were all afraid to touch him and would let him go to the bathroom unattended. He is a fall risk and practices no personal hygeine. I asked the nurse to please explain MRSA to them and the procedure for his care but she ignored me and called the DNS to have me removed from the facility. I said if she was doing her job this wouldnt have happened and now thers a chance he has contaminated the bathroom the other residents use . It needs to be cleaned and since I am being sent home I have no choice but to report this. It was awful. I never met a nurse like her before. She could care less about anyone or anything. The staff aids were all wanting to quit because they were not informed or given appropriate supplies. I was glad to be thrown out. I told them to just clean the bathrooms and wash their hands and his good after toileting. I hope the agency is not going to fire me today. Was I wrong to inform and instruct the other aids??

[TexasPediRN]

Was it MRSA in the Urine or no?

Most people are colonized with MRSA of the nares, as long as its not an active infection and its not being treated, there is no need for isolation.

If you swabbed me, and most other nurses out there, we would test positive for MRSA, but we would not have an active infection of it.

If he wasnt active, and wasnt being treated, everyone is fine. Maybe thats why no-one was informed of his status?

[philippians4:13]

Yes it was an infection in his urine and he wets through his depends and all over the floor in the bathroom so he cannot be left unattended, In my opinion, he should not be in an assisted living facility. He needs more care than that. He has had this infection for quite some time because he was on his second round of antibiotics by the time I was notified and it just burns me up knowing the nurses knew and didnt tell me, knowing I provide his personal care and am in contact with his urine soaked sheets and PJS in the morning. I am always careful but it would have been nice to know.

[jmgrn65, RN]

Gloves should be worn when touching bodily fluids anyway. So it shouldn't have been a big deal. But it sounds like they aren't being worn. Universal Percautions should always be followed and this is example of why. I am sorry the nurse wasn't more supportive of you.

[sonomala]

Its just me, but I would find someone dss, health department, someone to report that too. I realize the risks are low but MRSA is nothing to take chances with.

[philippians4:13]

I tried to report it to the ct. Dept. of health but because an assisted living facility does not need to be licenced they have no jurisdiction over them. The woman at the dept. of health said she would call the facility and stress the importance of handwashing and gloves and staff inservices but that was all she could do. I dont care for assisted living facilities because its like living in an apartment complex and these elderly people need someone who takes their age into consideration when it comes to health and safety.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

What part of CT is this if you don't mind my asking? If it's in my general vicinity I want to be wary of applying at assisted living places.

[philippians4:13]

I would prefer not to give that information because I don't want to get in any trouble for slandering and the families privacy is very important to me. But do be aware that an assisted living facility does not need to be licenced so the state has no jurisdiction there which is too bad. IMO there should be some regulations as far as safety and health standards because everyone that lives there shares the facility and these are not strong healthy individuals. This is the elder population and they are more suseptable to bacterial infections because of skin breakdowns and lessened hygeine practices. I dont like these facilities at all and I think it would be less expensive and safer to just have your elderly parents get their own apartment and hire nurses aids to care for them during the day. It would certainly save on the horrendous cost of living there. Just my opinion.