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Study: Organizational approach works against MRSA

Infection Control Monitor, December 16, 2005

A recent study illustrated how an organizational behavior management approach can improve the quality of care in a hospital setting.

A staff-driven intervention with a dedicated focus on handwashing, patient charts, and effective documentation reduced staph infections by 70% in two intensive care units (ICUs) in England over a six-month period. The study is the first-known organizational approach to the problem of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Lead investigator Dominic Cooper, an industrial/organizational psychologist at Indiana University Bloomington, set out to determine how well this approach would work in England, where MRSA costs the British National Health Service an estimated $3.4 billion each year in hospital stays.

The ICU employees at the hospital in Northern England identified the key areas to address and implemented a daily monitoring plan with checklists for employees to use. Each day during the study, an employee would monitor staff for 20 minutes.

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