Where is MRSA?

Happy Monday everyone!

I came across another interesting article that I wanted to share with you. This article, located on Pharmacy Practice News, details recent findings of drug-resistant bacteria among hospital staff.

Despite hand hygiene awareness programs and increased number of antibacterial stations, dangerous germs are still around every corner in hospitals.

In fact, in the final paragraph, the author cites a study that revealed computer equipment in operating rooms as a large breeding ground for these harmful bacteria. Hospitals can help prevent the spread of germs and decrease the rate of infections by implementing washable technology. Unotron (www.unotron.com) offers air tight hermitically sealed medical grade washable keyboards, mice, and smart card readers. Completely sealed keyboards prevent bacteria from becoming lodged in drain holes.

Please see the full article below.

Have a great night.


ICU Study Turns Up Drug-Resistant Germs on Staffers’ Clothing
MRSA, other dangerous microbes hiding on white coats, in pockets

Adam Marcus

Hospitals are well-known sources of drug-resistant bacteria, so it should come as no surprise that the germs might occasionally hitchhike on the clinicians who work there.

Hungarian researchers have found that multidrug-resistant pathogens lurk on both the hands and clothing of hospital staff in the intensive care unit (ICU). The researchers even found a positive sample for the particularly problematic microbe, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, in the pocket of an ICU clinician’s coat.

For the study, Istavan Batai, MD, an anesthesiologist at the University of Pécs, and his colleagues looked for drug-resistant microbes on the hands and hospital coats of 57 ICU staffers at the teaching facility. The researchers found multidrug resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii on seven clinicians, with all but one of the positive samples involving the coats and coat pockets, along with the single positive test for S. aureus. All of the resistant strains matched samples obtained from patients.

Dr. Batai’s group said the study indicates that hospitals trying to control the spread of drug-resistant bacteria must look beyond hand hygiene. Protective aprons and policies to encourage clinicians to change their coats more than once a day might help, they added.

The researchers presented their findings at the 2010 annual meeting of the International Anesthesia Research Society (abstract S-215).

The study is not the first to show that potentially harmful bacteria can be found virtually wherever in the hospital they are sought. In a 2002 article, researchers tested 232 pairs of scissors and found that nearly 80%—particularly those used by nurses or in a communal setting—carried bacteria (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2002;23:147-151). And Japanese researchers reported at the 2006 meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists that computer equipment, such as mice and keyboards, in the operating room frequently hosted bacteria, including drug-resistant strains (abstract A948).