Infection Protection

MRSA: Fighting Off the Invader

Staphylococcus aureus, better known as staph, is a survivor. Although too small to see with the naked eye, these bacteria inhabit the nostrils of about a third of healthy Americans, lingering on skin, door knobs and other objects long enough to be passed along from person to person. Although harmless most of the time, these microorganisms have the power to cause great bodily harm; and, more importantly, they have managed to keep in step with pills designed to wipe them out. Staph emerged in 1961 with a strain capable of resisting antibiotics – methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

MRSA infections typically spread through close skin-to-skin contact, particularly when there is broken skin, contaminated surfaces, crowded living conditions and poor hygiene. San Juan Regional Medical Center protects against MRSA with careful attention to sanitation, and you can do the same at home. Careful hand washing is the best protection. Scrub hands briskly with soap and water for at least 15 seconds. If frequent hand washing is impossible, you might consider an alcohol-based sanitizer.

Wash bed linens, towels and gym clothing in hot water and dry them in a hot dryer, which is more effective at killing germs than air drying. Keep all of your cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed. When you change the bandage, dispose of it properly so that others don’t come in contact with it. Don’t share personal items such as towels or razors.

One high school athlete recently died of an MRSA-related illness presumably acquired through athletic equipment. With shared equipment such as pads and helmets, use a barrier (clothing or a towel) between the equipment and your skin. And clean the surfaces of the equipment before and after use.

If you’ve had an MRSA infection treated successfully, you may have a higher than average risk of developing another. Similarly, persons who are carriers of MRSA without being infected themselves are likely to remain carriers for months or even years.

Over the long term, the effectiveness of antibiotics is best protected by using them with care. Antibacterial medications have no benefit for treating viral infections such as colds or the flu. And it’s important to continue taking the full course of any antibiotic prescribed to you, even if symptoms get better. The few surviving bacteria may not continue to bother you, but they go on to create resistant strains that make future medication use less effective.

Staph is a survivor, and so are all disease-causing bacteria. Don’t underestimate their power.

Click Here to Print a Useful Resource On MRSA

Fighting Infections Every Day: A Letter from Dr. David W. McCray

In 2007, several members of the community wanted to know what San Juan Regional Medical Center was doing to address a growing nationwide problem with hospital acquired infections.  Dr. David McCray responded to their inquiry with the following letter which provides specifics on our comprehensive infection control measures. 

To Our Community:

I am currently the chairman of the infectious control committee at San Juan Regional Medical Center. I am a member of the medical staff in the department of surgery, working here as a general and trauma surgeon. I will apologize for being slow to respond to your letter. I was made aware of your letter and thought that I would respond as best as possible to your concerns. We at San Juan Regional are pleased that members of our community are interested in learning more about their hospital. I want to let you know that those of us who choose to work here are concerned about the very same issues.

Let me say that an overall infection rate is not a statistic that is kept by most hospitals. It is not a statistic that is tracked here. For that matter, I do not believe I have ever seen that
number at any hospital where I have worked, including 5 hospitals in the Salt Lake City area.

We do track surgical site (wound) infections. I am pleased to tell you that we are well within national norms for wound infections on our clean and clean-contaminated surgical cases. We track our use of antibiotics used to decrease the rate of infections and continually educate our surgeons and anesthesia team in their proper use. We have also adopted other recognized measures to reduce surgical wound infections such as using clippers to remove body hair from incision areas rather than using a razor to remove this hair.

Our hospital has an ongoing program to prevent the development of a serious form of pneumonia that occurs in patients who are on a breathing machine. This type of pneumonia is known as ventilator- associated pneumonia or VAP. This program has resulted in a dramatic decrease in this form of infection that occurs in our critical care units.

Another important and serious type of infection that can occur is that associated with the use of central venous catheters. These are long IV catheters that are threaded into the large veins in the central chest. Infections that occur around these catheters are both dangerous and very expensive because the bacteria get directly into the blood stream. We have adopted a standardized procedure for inserting these catheters. Again, we have seen a dramatic reduction in infections associated with these devices. We recently completed a 4-month period without a single central catheter infection!

I would also like to mention 3 new programs on which we are actively working. One is an effort to reduce urinary tract (bladder and kidney) infections associated with the use of indwelling bladder catheters. Another is a program to reduce the risk of contracting a serious form of infection that occurs in the colon known as Clostridium difficile colitis, named after the bacteria that cause the infection. We have also initiated a program to reduce the incidence of infection due to MRSA. MRSA is the Staph bug that is resistant to the usual antibiotics. As excited as we are to have seen the reductions in infections as a result of our older programs, we are equally excited to see what we can accomplish with these newer programs.

As I mentioned earlier in this letter, we are pleased that our community is concerned about our infection rates. As a hospital, and especially as a surgeon, we share those very same concerns. We live with and fight these infections every day of our careers. We know all too well the devastation, suffering, and expense that is brought about by these hated infections. I am proud to say that we are fighting hard and effectively to reduce them every day of the year.

The heart and soul of our infection control program is Penny Hill, R.N. Penny works tirelessly to research and enact these programs. She is a remarkable resource for our community and our hospital. Week in and week out, her leadership and energy are the major force driving these efforts to reduce these infections. I want to use this letter to thank her for these efforts. She has made a difference!

San Juan Regional is also a member of a national association of hospitals that also contributes to our efforts to reduce infections. This association also plays a role in other facets of dealing with health care issues.

Sincerely,

David W. McCray, MD.