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I am ready to deck one of the teachers where I work. :angryfire :angryfire There is a letter circulating from the local school system about the big bad MRSA staph infections!
I read it and there is a slight chance that anyone can get MRSA.
Anyway, one of the teachers called me into her classroom to look at 'rashes' on a couple of her kids. I told her that were NOT staph infections and went on to explain that everyone has staph on their skin and in their noses. I also explained that a boil, a zit and impetigo are all staph infections and that NONE of the 60 kids in the school had a staph infection!!
She looked at the ugly pictures of MRSA on the 'net and was convinced that one of the children had MRSA. I called his mother and asked her what the MD said about his rash. She said he got it by rolling down the hill at his grandmas and that he also had chiggers. Ok that's enough for me to know that this child did NOT have MRSA!
I went back into her classroom and explained AGAIN what staph infections were and that NO ONE in the building had MRSA.
Just to make sure, I called my PCP and asked his nurse to fax me her info on MRSA. I told her what I had said to the teacher about the boils, etc and she agreed with me.
One of the sheets she faxed had a website so I looked it up and printed out the info that I had already told her about boiles, etc. Before I could get in there to give her the info, I was called into another classroom, so that the teaching assistant could go into her classroom and make sure that the kiddos' didn't have MRSA! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire
I have 60 physicals and dentals I need to put into the computer and I wasted 15 minutes in a classroom while someone who isn't a nurse checked to make sure the kids didn't have MRSA!!
I told my supervisor that I was angry and why. She tried to defend the teacher and I refused to let her. I told her that I had told her THREE times that no one had MRSA, that I had called my DR and had info to give her. That I didn't appreicate her trying to undermine my and that I wouldn't tolerate it. I have a license to practice nursing, she has a certificate to teach!!
This same teacher tried this crap last year too. I was new and trying to find my way. This year I'm much more experienced and I ask her for NOTHING!!
Thanks for letting me vent!! Now maybe I can sleep!!
I guess my whole point is that--while it may seem logical that we would have a higher incidence of MRSA as HCP's, I think it's dangerous to assume we do and thus abandon our precaution practices (which is what other posters are saying actually happens in their facilities:nono:
Yes...my point is, IMO, that it is logical that as HCP's we would have a higher incidence of MRSA because as Arwen pointed out we're more likely than the general public to have direct contact with it. The general public does not have g-tubes, foley's, etc explode on them.
I did not pick up that any poster was saying that we as HCP's assume we have MRSA and abondon our precaution practices. That would be foolish.
Easy or not we are still at risk and we protect ourselves appropriately.It's not THAT easy to get it--
On an unrelated note Arwen, I was kinda hoping for a Pippin/Treebeard run in '08-- 4-8 years of reckless merriment balanced with quiet reflections on ancient lore. Could be interesting!
-Kan
Only, can you imagine how long it would take for the State of the Union address if Treebeard were Prez?! Edited to apologize for the OT!
I suspect that if we did surveillance cultures on every admission, we'd be isolating most all of them. At some point, it becomes ridiculous to continue doing so... staph is now multi-drug resistant and we simply have to come to terms with that.
Get out the hazmat suits!!!
I had an i/m transfer to our prison from county. She had been dx (by sight, not culture) at the county as having MRSA on her leg wound). The i/m was transfered to our facility by the county, with lights and sirens blazing. She arrived with a mask and gloves on ,as well as the transporting officers.
IF she had MRSA, which is unable to determine b/c no cultures were done, she had been on the approriate AB for 2 weeks.
I asked the i/m why she had gloves and a mask on, and she told me "I have MRSA" I replied, " that isn't what I asked, I asked why you have gloves and a mask on" Then she replied " the officers made me, b/c I have MRSA, whatever that is and they have made me wear them for 2 weeks" I told here if she wanted to she could take them off, wash her hands in the bathroom using soap and water, and that when she was done, i would process her.
I did patient education and admitted her to our facility.
But this is a daily struggle that we fight just about everday, at our facility, with all non-medical staff. It is so bad, that on admission we had out a form to the i/m about dealing with MRSA.
Yes...my point is, IMO, that it is logical that as HCP's we would have a higher incidence of MRSA because as Arwen pointed out we're more likely than the general public to have direct contact with it. The general public does not have g-tubes, foley's, etc explode on them.
Yes, I understand that and I said so in my last post--yes we are MORE likely to have MRSA, that does not mean that it's LIKELY that we have MRSA.
I did not pick up that any poster was saying that we as HCP's assume we have MRSA and abondon our precaution practices. That would be foolish.
A previous poster mentioned how MRSA was so endemic in her/his institution that a decision was made to stop isolating the patients. At least one other poster also mentioned not using isolation precautions. There may be a good reason for this--perhaps their facilities have particularly high incidence rates and lack the resources to support isolating each patient. I have read that if need be it is appropriate--but not desired--to place MRSA patients in a room together. The feelings expressed by some posters is that because so many people have MRSA, their facilities have decided not to isolate. I would imagine this is actually a need-based decision--and probably not the desired solution. Also some posters have said MRSA is only a problem for immunocompromised people--but that includes pretty much anyone in the hospital from simple surgical pts to advanced AIDS pts. I don't mean to misinterpret what anyone in this thread has said, and if I have I apologize. But I have gotten the distinct impression that some posters have a fairly nonchalant approach to MRSA infection control.
Easy or not we are still at risk and we protect ourselves appropriately.
Yes, this is exactly what I am trying to say
I agree the teacher went a little nuts, but MRSA is EVERYWHERE now -- we don't put people in isolation for it anymore.I remember the year I graduated nursing school (2002), our local infectious disease docs got together with the cardiothoracic surgeons and did a little study... darn near every patient they cultured nasally had MRSA, but it's not a problem unless you're immunocompromised. They stated that it's endemic in the community, and used this information to change hospital policies regarding pts who have a history of MRSA -- no one gets isolated anymore.
So the simple fact is that some of those kids probably DO have MRSA, but so what? It's not something that is likely to cause a problem for anyone, unless they develop a problem with their immune system.
Here's what the CDC has to say about it:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html
Hope this helps.
Hey Happybunny--was this study published? I'd be interested to read it. Thanks!
-Kan
kanzi, since i love a good challenge, i've been trying to find links r/t % of hcw w/mrsa.
so far, there isn't anything recent or in the u.s.
the most relevant (and it really isn't) articles were that less than 50% of hcw's, wash their hands.
i did find a link provides you with a database of infection rates and other reportable data.
if you know how to effectively search, perhaps this link will be useful?
http://www.outbreak-database.com
if i find anything, i'll let you know.
leslie
kanzi, since i love a good challenge, i've been trying to find links r/t % of hcw w/mrsa.so far, there isn't anything recent or in the u.s.
the most relevant (and it really isn't) articles were that less than 50% of hcw's, wash their hands.
i did find a link provides you with a database of infection rates and other reportable data.
if you know how to effectively search, perhaps this link will be useful?
http://www.outbreak-database.com
if i find anything, i'll let you know.
leslie
Wow, that is a cool database! And many of the articles RE: MRSA include HCP data when a nurse or doc was involved in the transmission. That's a good place to start a systematic review of HCP incidence if one doesn't exist already.
Thanks!
kwagner_51
592 Posts
i can't let this battle go, unfortunately. there are only 60 kids and three teachers. she is a bully and has made all the teachers and teacher's assistants cry at one time or another.
i was angry when i went into the other classroom and the ta knew it. she told the teacher that i was angry and the came back with a message from said teacher, that "she didn't mean to go over my head". i told the ta, that that was exactly what she meant to do!!
when i told my superviser about the problem, her comment was, 'well should she have told her that she didn't need her anymore?' i said "yes!! i just spent 15 minutes in a classroom, essentailly wasting my time, while the ta played nurse. it was a slap in the face, and i do not appreciate it." :angryfire
don't even get me started about the monthly reports!! :angryfire