MRSA Clearance in the Community (Staff)
This project was conducted in 2004 in collaboration with the Launceston General Hospital (LGH). The major objective of the study was to determine the current status of individuals who were assessed as being Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) positive during their time as inpatients at the LGH, and whose medical records require amendment of the ‘MRSA positive’ status once they had been discharged and became consistently MRSA negative.
Individuals assessed as becoming MRSA negative were therefore not having to suffer the embarrassment and inconvenience of an ‘MRSA positive’ status, which would lead to the need for isolation during re-admission to hospital. The assessment also decreased nursing time, effort and costs for the LGH by avoiding the unnecessary isolation of patients who have been cleared of MRSA.
The project aimed to:
- Improve patient care and outcomes and decrease the chances of cross-infection by assisting in the clearance of MRSA status for those individuals in the community;
- Update the MRSA screening protocol for patients admitted to the LGH and the protocol for follow-up of positive patients after discharge;
- Document the natural history of MRSA colonisation after hospital discharge in the Launceston area;
- Compare the number/site of swabs used in the LGH screening for MRSA with other protocols with respect to efficacy and efficiency;
- Improve communication and collaboration with General Practitioners by involving them in post-discharge care, and improving the method for informing GPs of their patients’ MRSA status on discharge from the LGH.
Members: Shandell Elmer, Helen Malcolm, Beth Mulligan, Erica Cox
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