Pilot site tries out MRSA prevention technique

Patient Safety Monitor Alert

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October 17, 2007

Sacred Heart Medical Center of Spokane, WA, has launched a screening program to catch patients infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) entering or transferred from the Intensive Care Unit, reports the The Spokesman Review. The program, which began at the beginning of this month, has already caught one colonized patient out of 24 patients in the first week of October. Though the patient's infection was not active, he was placed in isolation as a precaution.

Upon being admitted, transferred, or discharged from the ICU, patients' nasal cavities are swabbed and tested. Sacred Heart is using a new, faster test that determines if a patient has been colonized with MRSA, which only takes a day to provide feedback.

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