Infection Control Practices while taking care of MRSA infected patients:
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Standard Precautions
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Contact Precautions
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Culturing of Personnel
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Outbreak control
Appropriate device handling:
- Handle all the items used for patient care in a manner that prevents skin and mucous membrane exposures, contamination of clothing, and transfer of microorganisms to other patients and environments.
- Ensure that reusable equipment is not used for the care of another patient until it has been appropriately cleaned and reprocessed and that single-use items are properly discarded.
Appropriate handling of laundry
- Handle, transport, and process linen used by patients with MRSA in a manner that prevents skin and mucous membrane exposures, contamination of clothing, and transfer of microorganisms to other patients and environments. Linen should be kept in yellow colour-coded bags and send to the laundry.
Contact Precautions
- Placing a patient with MRSA in a private room
- When a private room is not available, the patient may be placed in a room with a patient(s) who has active infection with MRSA, but with no other infection (cohorting).
- Proper PPE like gloves, mask, gown etc. PPE should be removed before leaving the room and hand washing should be done.
- Limiting the movement and transport of the patient from the room to essential purposes only
- If the patient is transported out of the room, ensure that precautions are maintained to minimize the risk of transmission of microorganisms to other patients and contamination of environmental surfaces or equipment.
- Ensure proper disinfection of equipment’s used for transport of the patients to the other departments such as stretchers, wheelchairs.
- Ensure proper disinfection of equipment used in the other department for the treatment or diagnosis of the patient.
- Ensure that patient-care items, bedside equipment, and frequently touched surfaces receive daily cleaning
- When possible, dedicate the use of non-critical patient care equipment and items such as stethoscope, sphygmomanometer, bedside commode, or electronic rectal thermometer to a single patient (or cohort of patients infected or colonized with MRSA) to avoid sharing between patients.
- If use of common equipment or items is unavoidable, then adequately clean and disinfect them before use on another patient.
Culturing of Personnel and Management of Personnel Carriers of MRSA
- All personnel working in OT`s, surgical and intensive care areas must be screened for MRSA carriage using nasal swabs.
- MRSA-carrier personnel who are epidemiologically linked to transmission should be removed from direct patient care until the treatment of the MRSA-carrier status is successful.
Control of MRSA Outbreak
- When an outbreak of MRSA infection occurs, an epidemiologic assessment should be initiated to identify risk factors for MRSA acquisition in the institution with the help of Microbiologist.
- Colonized or infected patients should be identified as quickly as possible, appropriate barrier precautions should be instituted, and handwashing by medical personnel before and after all patient contacts should be strictly adhered to.
- All personnel should be reinstructed on appropriate precautions for patients colonized or infected with multi-resistant microorganisms and on the importance of handwashing and barrier precautions in preventing contact transmission.