Researchers discover way to cut rate of Staphylococcus aureus
Patient Safety Monitor Alert, January 13, 2010
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor Alert!
A team of researchers from the Netherlands has reported that rapid screening of surgical patients for Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in their nasal cavities prior to surgery and treating infected patients with an antibacterial nasal gel and body wash can cut infection rates by 60%, reports Reuters. The study was originally published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Patients who are carriers of S. aureus have a higher risk of developing a healthcare acquired infection (HAI). Patients who contract HAIs often have increased lengths of stay.
Researchers wanted to know if rapidly identifying surgical patients who were colonized with S.aureus in their nose and giving them a mupirocin nasal gel as well as clorhexidine body wash prior to surgery would help lower their risk of contracting a HAI. Those patients who tested positive and were given this treatment contracted a HAI 3.4% of the time, as compared with 7.7% in the group of patients who did not receive the nasal gel or body wash.
To read more from Reuters, click here.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor Alert!
Related Products
-
Infection Control Training Video for Environmental Services:
Highlighting common scenarios from hand hygiene and glove use to properly cleaning patient rooms, this video will illustrate...
-
Infection Control Training Video for Dietary Services:
In just 15 minutes, this training video gives your dietary staff simple strategies on the do's and don'ts for proper IC...
-
The Infection Prevention Toolkit: Seven-Minute Solutions for Five IC Hotspots
This DVD provides five, seven -minute segments, that cover the most pressing topics in IC prevention.
-
Infection Control Compliance Guide, Third Edition
Infection Control Compliance Guide, Third Edition, is an concise, easy-to-use third edition of a best seller. It's your...
-
Proven Methods for Drastically Reducing CAUTIs
Join nurse practitioner Mikel Gray, PhD, PNP, FNP, CUNP CCCN, FAANP, FAAN, and chief of infection prevention and 2012 APIC...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- HIPAA Q&A: Answering service messages
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Are your workforce members texting PHI?
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q&A: Coding 'aspiration without pneumonia'
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- Avoid the trap of probable diagnoses
- Arkansas woman convicted for HIPAA violation
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Searched