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Are your patients bugging out about MRSA?

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, January 10, 2008

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If your facility is like many others, you've recently been fielding a lot of questions about methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). With fears heightened and patients seeking more information, you're in the tricky position of having to provide it. That means you need to be as well versed in public relations skills as you are in infection control measures.

The following are simple steps you can take to effectively communicate timely, accurate, and audience-appropriate information to the public:

• Listen to what's out there. Tune in to the information in the media and to the public reaction to that information. This will allow you to address any misinformation or misinterpretations that may be out there.
• Use public materials as a starting point. Public health departments have come up with a variety of accurate materials that are appropriate for a non-healthcare audience. Use these and refer patients and officials to them.
• Send out patient and staff newsletters. Newsletters are tools that can help you get information out quickly. It's a quick, efficient way to distribute accurate information.
• Ensure staff members have appropriate training. Provide materials to staff members so that they have an accurate understanding of the issues themselves. Develop informational materials so staff members can hand them out to patients who have questions.
• Focus on the positive. Keep in mind that although publicity can generate negative responses and may make more work for you, sometimes a good dose of reality is necessary to alert people to important issues.

To get more information, go to Briefings on Infection Control (BOIC). For the cost of just three stories, you can get the entire January issue of BOIC. Click here to choose between the PDF and HTML versions for just $30. Subscribers to the online version of BOIC have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print newsletter can find this article in their January issue.

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