Johns Hopkins begins prescreening for superbugs in pediatrics
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
April 18, 2007
Johns Hopkins has started screening all pediatric ICU patients for so-called superbugs, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus.
The change aligns the pediatric ICU with practices already in place for adult ICUs. Studies have shown that pre-emptive screening can lead to better control over superbugs than the traditional method of testing only after a patient shows signs of harboring the stubborn infections.
