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Web site spotlight: CE Article: Look beyond a universal approach to cut out MRSA

Nurse Leader Weekly, August 4, 2008

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Universal screening may not be every facility's answer to slashing MRSA rates. Two recent studies have offered opposing conclusions regarding its effectiveness.

The first study, "Universal Screening for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus at Hospital Admission and Nosocomial Infection in Surgical Patients," published in the March 12 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that screening all patients when they were admitted to 12 surgical wards did not reduce MRSA infections.

But several days later, a study published in the March 18 Annals of Internal Medicine, "Universal Surveillance for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus," found the opposite: that the "introduction of a universal admission surveillance for MRSA was associated with a large reduction in MRSA disease during admission and 30 days after discharge," according to study authors.

So what does this mean for your facility? Is universal screening a worthwhile intervention or a waste of time and money? Experts suggest facilities asses their local epidemiology to find out.

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from the CE article, "Screening for MRSA: Looking beyond a universal approach" featured in The Reading Room on HCPro's new online resource center.

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