Does Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening decrease hospital cost? Nursing has an obligation to their patients to provide the best evidence-based research results, to improve nursing care for their patients. There have been numerous researches in the healthcare field, which has improved patient care. This should be an ongoing process, in order to allow progressive and exceptional care for patients.
Several screenings of hospital patient will be reviewed to determine if testing all patients for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening is cost effect for patients, and what procedures should be conducted by health facilities to control Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Does Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening decrease hospital cost? In reviewing the article “What is your facility doing to combat MRSA? ” patients were screen for MRSA prior to surgery, with the intervention of increased hand washing.
This is very cost effect for the patient as well as facilities. Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois was in support of the guidelines of the Association for Professional in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the CDC for preventing the mushroom effect of MRSA. This hospital piloted a quantitative program for pre-admission testing of all surgical patients and encourages MRSA screening for all patients. With the increase in MRSA infections, the hospital increases the screening to all pre-admission patients.
The Association of per Operative Registered Nurse (AORN) encourages all facilities to manage the spread of MRSA, by following guidelines set by the APIC and the CDC. This includes enforcing contact-isolation precautions; hand hygiene policy, and performing screening for MRSA on all surgical patients and ICU patients with an annual facility-wide infection-control risk assessment on their patients. This pilot study promoted the Governor of Illinois to sign the MRSA Screening and Reporting Act of August of 2007 into law.
This law requires Illinois hospitals to enforce contact-isolation precaution and hand hygiene policies; to perform annual hospital-wide infection-control risk assessments, and to screen all ICU and other high risk patients for MRSA. Later in that same year Senator Menendez of New Jersey introduced the MRSA infection prevention and patient protection legislation, which will require all hospitals to report the number of HA-MRSA cases in there facilities, if cases passed in to law. This also encouraged the federal legislation H. R. 4451), which support MRSA research and assisted schools in preventing the spread of MRSA in to the community.
This project is rate a level III, because it is a well design pilot program; this pilot study was conducted on all surgical and pre-admission patients; there was intervention of increase population to be studied; and the study was well designed [ (Houser, 2008) ]. The second article reviewed is,” The Costs and Benefits of Hospital MRSA Screening. ” Many hospital admissions are extended due to extensive treatments, which is one of the major causes of escalating hospital causes. MRSA infections range from localized skin infection to life-threatening infections.
The severity of MRSA infections is related to age factors, which causes the elderly have more life-threatening infections. Since the infection is screen differently internationally, it is difficult to compare the effect of screening patients. In a team effort of following the guidelines of the Health Department, the number of MRSA infections has decrease with screening of all admissions, and emergency admissions. With the team effort of hospitals and the Health Department, it was concluded that with rigorously enforced isolation MRSA infections were decreased.
The Health Technology Assessment could not determine if universal screening decreased the infections of MRSA. The difference in management of isolation technique and the degree of compliance has made the feasibility difficult to determine. The difference in the decrease of MRSA from year to year is not conclusive because the difference in the Type of MRSA infections from year to year. There is still ethical debate that questions if universal screening is or is not ethical to the hospital population. Since there is no concrete information to support the value of screening, some individuals feels that universal testing is not necessary.
Even thought there is a reduction in MRSA in one hospital it cannot be link to a general cause for all hospitals. The key to finding a link between MRSA requires partnership and trust among the employees, management, and the infection control department. There must be increase awareness among staff, increase knowledge of MRSA infections, MRSA performance meetings following every case of MRSA to raise awareness (Guleri, 2011, Gawlinski,2008). The British Medical Journal contributes the mandatory screening of all hospital patients for MRSA to be unethical.
Since MRSA can be carried harmless on the skin, many patients have received false positive test. They confirm that the test is harmful to patients, because they give false positive test results. The false positive test cause patient more unnecessary testing, which can delay surgery and or treatment. These patients may be subjective to isolation, which may cause psychological and physical harm. If these patients have surgery, there is the possibility of getting MRSA into their wound. This would increase hospital stay and cost. There was a drop in the number of infections cause by MRSA due to increase cleaning of room.
It is a known fact that MRSA is carried on the hands of staff members, which indicates the need of frequent hand washing of employees. The British Journal indicated that the testing of all patients is unethical for these patients, to undergo these test. The health Department feels that it is necessary, because it reduces the risk of developing MRSA, or contaminating other patients. In conclusion there must be joint collaborations of hand washing, better reliable test, and education of staff member regarding MRSA and prevention.
These efforts must be initiated as a team with the health facilities management, infection control department and the Health Department. Each health facility must bear the cost of these programs, but they will decrease or prevent further MRSA infections. These programs to control MRSA will be cost effect for each facility. The cost of extended hospital stay, treatment for MRSA, and the cost of isolation for the patient, will be decreased or completely eliminated [ (Smith, 2009 ) ]. References Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (updated 2011, March 25). Active Bacterial Core Survellance (ABCs).
Retrieved June 30, 2011, from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): http://www. cdc. gov/abcs/index. html Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (updated 2010, August 9). Definition of MRSA. Retrieved June 17, 2011, from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): http:www. cdc. gov/mrsa/definition/index. html Clark, C. (2011, January 31). MRSA Screenings of ICU Patents Can Reduce Hospital Cost. Retrieved June 29, 2011, from Health Leaders Media: http://www. healthleadersmedia. com/print/TEC-261951/MRSA-Screenings-of-ICU-Patients-Can-Reduce-Hospita-Cost## Gawlinski, A.
(2008). The Power Of Clinical Nursing Research: Engage Clinicians, Improve Patients’ Lives, and Forge A Professional Legacy. American Journal Of Critical Care , Volume 17, No. 4, pp. 315-326. Guleri, A. K. (2011). The Cost and Brnefits of Hospital MRSA screening. British Journal of Healthcare Mangement , Vol 17 No 2, pp. 64-70. Houser, J. (2008). The Importance of Research as Evidence in Nursing. In J. Houser, Nursing Research: Reading, Using, and Creating Evidence (pp. 26-27). Sudbury: Jones ; Barlett. Lamm, W. (2011, June 27). A Multi-Demensional Team Approach Solves MRSA Challenge.
Retrieved June 29, 2011, from Infection Control Today: http://www. infectoncontroltoday. com/articles/2011/06/a-multi-demensional-team-approach-solves-mrsa-challenge. aspx Smith, R. (2009 , October 9). Testing all patients for MRSA is ‘unethical’. Retrieved June 28, 2011, from The Telegraph: http://www. telegraph. co. uk/health/healthnews/6272281/Testing-all-patients-for-MRSA-is-unthical. html Stanton, C. (copyright2011). What is your facility doing to combat MRSA. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from Association of peri Operative Registered Nurse: http://www. aorn. org/AORNNews/MRSAScreen.