VRE and MRSA screening

[ragingmomster]

I work in an L&D unit with 7 LDRP's and 16 LDR's. The LDR's usually have high risk pt's in them.

New policy handed down today and starting next week is that anyone who arrives in pre-term labor or PROM will be assumed to be VRE/MRSA positive and will be swabbed and put on contact precautions. All staff entering room and all visitors entering room will wear protective gowns. Visitors get a clean pt gown and staff the lovely yellow paper gowns.

VRE perirectal swab will take 2 days and MRSA 3 days, or vice versa. By the time we know their status the pt will most likely be discharged. Infection control states this goes for all inpt areas in this hospital and we are the last unit to implement.

Anyone else using a similar policy?

[CEG]

We just started this also...the reason being that we have had 3 preemies die in the past 4 months from MRSA...and when they swabbed the mom's they were the carriers. One case was necrotizing MRSA....CA-MRSA . This is the "flesh eating " type and it was in the kids lungs and ate thru to the ribs. It was awful. All these kids were vag. Do you have a NICU that has had a high rate of MRSA?

Do a search on MRSA or necrotizing MRSA in preemies and there are a few articles.

Just curious what the benefit of placing moms on isolation is in this regard. Is it to solely protect the other moms/babes from MRSA? And why is this not an issue with term moms?

It just seems that having those moms on isolation wouldn't have made a difference in those cases since the babes contracted the MRSA from them.

Thanks....