Handwashing more important than isolation in controlling MRSA, hospital study finds
Regular handwashing by hospital staff and visitors does more to prevent the spread of the MRSA superbug than isolating infected patients, according to a study in two hospital intensive care units in the UK. Dr Peter Wilson, from University College Hospital, London, presented the results of the 12-month study, “Isolation of patients in single rooms and MRSA transmission”, at the Society for General Microbiology meeting in Harrogate.
In the middle six months of the year patients with MRSA were not moved to single rooms or nursed in separate MRSA bays. The rates of cross infection with MRSA were compared with the periods when patients were moved. Patients were tested for MRSA weekly and hand hygiene by staff and visitors was audited and encouraged. There was no evidence of increased transmission of infection when patients were not moved.
Moving seriously ill patients when they are identified as having MRSA can be hazardous and it involves ward staff in extra hygiene measures.
“If a patient carrying MRSA is critically ill, moving them to a single room is less of a priority than clinical care,” said Wilson. “If the criteria are strictly applied, compliance with hand hygiene practices on intensive care units is less than on a general ward because of the very high number of contacts per hour.” Wilson said another study is needed in a general ward where a high level of compliance with hand hygiene is easier to achieve. www.alphagalileo.org www.sgmharrogate2009.org.uk