Whats your facilities policy on isolation for MRSA, CDIF, VRE, etc?

[Gr8Dane]

At my hospital we do the following:

MRSA can go together (Even if its old w/ new MRSA)

CDIFs can go together

VRE is isolated alone.

TB is in special iso of course alone.

The reason I ask: A Doctor was on the floor and flipped out over the fact his patient w/ CDIF was with another CDIF patient. He exclaimed that it should be illegal and against policy to do that. He then stated the WBC count is 35 and the pt has a super nasty bug obviously and should be alone.

When we told him we also put new and old mrsa's together he went beserk saying we were dead wrong etc etc.

Naturally we toldem to use his authority that he has above us, and help to change the policy we have on it by speaking with the CNO/CEO.

So anyone have any insight on this situation?

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

We have all private rooms so all the isolations are alone and we designate contact, airborn, reverse depending on the diagnosis.

[widi96]

We only have one double room, the others are all private, but we don't put anyone infectious in that room - they have to be a CHF, something cardiac, but no Pneumonia and especially nothing that requires isolation

[student456]

all private rooms here in canada so far in the hospitals that i know of....

GREAT article in macleans magazine this week on CDIFF and hospitals / isolation precautions....it said that some hospitals use the same toilets for like up to 8 pts with CDIFF, etc

[Fiona59]

all private rooms here in canada so far in the hospitals that i know of....

GREAT article in macleans magazine this week on CDIFF and hospitals / isolation precautions....it said that some hospitals use the same toilets for like up to 8 pts with CDIFF, etc

Wrong.

In an ideal world new facilities are being built as private rooms only and when renovations are done, the majority of the rooms are semis. But seeing as hospital infrastructure isn't a high priority to the Conservative government, it isn't happening fast.

I've worked in two provinces and have never seen an "all private rooms" facility. Semis and privates are the norm. My hospital still has four bed wards.

Iso patients are given the private rooms as a matter of fact. I have heard that four bed wards have been used as a quarantine area for up to four MRSA's and VRE's at a time.

Hell we even have a "dirty nurse" designation for the poor nurse that winds up with three or more Iso's on a shift.

Have I mentioned I hate the damn gowns, mask, and gloving. Give me an ESBL iso any day just for the fact that we don't need the masks.

[student456]

no i meant all private rooms for isolation pts..HAAH not all private rooms as the norm! now THAt would be nice

[SecondGenRN]

no i meant all private rooms for isolation pts..HAAH not all private rooms as the norm! now THAt would be nice

Well private rooms for all isolations is just not possible at our hospital. The majority of rooms are 4 bed wards, with four semis and four privates on a big floor. People are often roomed by illness here. (of course, my hospital was mentioned in the macleans article!)

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Private iso rooms for each patient is required at our facility (actually, ALL in the area that I know of). Keeping two patients with MRSA or two patients with C-diff in the same room just means that the risk of re-infection for the first patient to recover is that much greater. Why on earth would we want to do that? And C-diff comes in different strains, if I remember correctly (do I?); why would we make sure to cross-contaminate?

Our ID MDs would have an absolute spazzy fit if they found two such patients as roomies.

[SecondGenRN]

Private iso rooms for each patient is required at our facility (actually, ALL in the area that I know of). Keeping two patients with MRSA or two patients with C-diff in the same room just means that the risk of re-infection for the first patient to recover is that much greater. Why on earth would we want to do that? And C-diff comes in different strains, if I remember correctly (do I?); why would we make sure to cross-contaminate?

Our ID MDs would have an absolute spazzy fit if they found two such patients as roomies.

yes well we have magic curtains that stop the spread of disease in our rooms lol:no:

[rn-jane]

Our policy is as follows

mrsa-if in nares we isolate only if the room mate would be a new post op or immunosuppressed patient. If in blood or otherwise they are isolated to one of the few privates we have.

vre or cdiff they are isolated.

[NurseKatie08, MSN]

I have never seen cohorting of CDIFF, VRE or MRSA in my hospital. They always have a private, and if no private is available and we take them, they go into a semi with the other bed closed until a private opens. If it doesn't, they stay in the semi.

[MaryAnn_RN]

This is the UK Department of Health advice on reducing infection:

http://www.clean-safe-care.nhs.uk/public/default.aspx?level=1&load=HomeNews