Ask nurses if they have washed their hands, patients are told

Main Category: MRSA / Drug Resistance
Article Date: 17 May 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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A new campaign in the UK against the superbug MRSA is to ask patients to ask their nurses if they have washed their hands. The new campaign, which will be launched this summer, aims to target hospital staff and healthcare professionals who cannot be bothered to wash their hands.

Hospital personnel who come into physical contact with patients are going to have to wear a badge. The badge urges patients to ask them whether they have washed their hands before they touch them.

Alcohol hand wipes will be attached to hospital beds. Alcohol hand wipes are said to be more effective than soap and water. Hospitals will have posters displayed at various places reinforcing the message.

This campaign is the result of public concern over the growth in the numbers of patients coming down with MRSA infections in the UK. According to the UK Department of Health, the cost of having patients infected with the MRSA bug is about £1bn ($1.7bn) per year. About 5,000 patients are thought to die each year as a result of being infected.

John Reid, UK Health Secretary, said "These are the kind of practical measures that we want to see. Some of the ways of tackling this are not rocket science. Sometimes it is the old-fashioned way of doing things, like cleaning your hands properly."

A trial campaign in six hospitals has been successful in bringing down infection rates, say government ministers in the UK.

According to the Sunday Telegraph (UK broadsheet newspaper), the campaign will be extended to all National Health Hospitals this summer.

According to details coming out of the Royal College of Nursing's annual conference, many nurses in the UK are 'too posh to wash' their patients. Jeremy Bore, a nurse at Exeter Prison, UK, said many younger nurses do not want to wash patients feet and bottoms. He said that if nurses are too posh to wash perhaps they have chosen the wrong profession.

Some people who represent nursing groups say that the patient-nurse relationship could be undermined if the nurse becomes defensive when the patient asks him/her whether he/she has washed his/her hands. However, others say that in the six hospitals that piloted this campaign the results were good and the staff members were enthusiastic.

WHAT IS MRSA

MRSA stands for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It is a bacterium that has developed a resistance to most antibiotics commonly used for staphylococcus infections. These drugs include methicillin, oxacillin, nafcillin, cephalosporins, imipenem, and other beta-lactams.

WHAT IS THE RESERVOIR FOR MRSA?

MRSA can affect people in two different ways--colonization or infection. When a person carries the flora on the skin or in the nose without showing signs or symptoms of infection, the person is said to be colonized. If a person has signs of infection that are caused by MRSA (such as abscesses, wound infections, pneumonia, respiratory infections, blood, stool or urinary tract infections), the person is said to be infected.

HOW DOES MRSA SPREAD FROM PERSON TO PERSON?

MRSA most often spreads from person to person by direct contact. For example, in medical settings MRSA is most commonly spread from patient to patient by health care workers' hands.

HOW CAN YOU STOP THE SPREAD OF MRSA?

The single most effective way to prevent the spread of infection is by proper handwashing. Handwashing, by lathering up with soap for at least 20 seconds and rinsing with warm running water, is the key to preventing the spread. Hands should be washed both before and after contact with a patient. Other measures include following Body Substance Precautions by using protective equipment to avoid contact with another person's body fluids. Gloves should be worn for all dressing changes. Additionally, protective equipment should be disposed of after use, and hands must be washed after removing the protective equipment. Separate clean and dirty linen. Follow a schedule for daily environmental cleaning. Observe the isolation procedures of your facility.