Medical Abbreviations: A Closer Look at MRSA

MRSA infection is an infection with a strain of Staphylococcus aureus or “staph”. Staphylococcus aureus or “staph” are common bacteria that commonly live on the skin and for about thirty percent of the population harmlessly in the nasal passages. Staph can cause infections when it enters into the skin through a cut or sore. MRSA infections are serious because they are resistant to antibiotics such as methicillin, amoxicillin and penicillin.

Most often MRSA occurs in patient populations who have undergone invasive medical procedures and/or have weakened immune conditions. Typically MRSA infections are diagnosed in hospital or chronic healthcare facilities. MRSA is a serious diagnosis because of the life threatening infections that are found in the blood stream or at the surgical site. Patients who receive dialysis treatment are also at risk for MRSA infection.

However, MRSA can infect people in the community at large. In this setting it usually presents as a skin infection in people who would otherwise be considered healthy and have not been hospitalized within the past year. Many times community acquired MRSA infections occur among athletes who share equipment or personal items and among children in daycare facilities.

The most common carriers of MRSA are those who carry it on their bodies but do not have symptoms or those who have a MRSA infection. Most often it is passed person to person through hand to hand contact. Specifically in the healthcare setting it is firmly engrained that lack of proper handwashing causes contamination between patients as the healthcare workers carry the organism from one patient to another.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria change or adapt in such a way that the antibiotics previously prescribed to work against them no longer do. One way that the bacterium has been allowed to adapt is through patient non-compliance in completing prescriptions for antibiotic medication. Often patients are very good about taking antibiotic medication when they have first sought treatment because they are not feeling well and want to feel better. As the patient recovers and is able to return to the daily living activities they stop taking their prescription. However, antibiotic treatment is designed to be administered not just when the patient feels better but until the course of prescribed treatment is completed.

There do remain some antibiotics that are able to treat MRSA but they are becoming more and more limited. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for two percent of the total staph infections. In 1995, it was 22% and in 2004, it was around 63%; however, MRSA is preventable. Some of the ways that the spread of the bacteria can be prevented is by good handwashing; avoid sharing personal items such as towels and razors and proper antiseptic cleaning of hospital and sporting equipment.

MRSA can have detrimental effects of the health status of the client that you serve. Our ability to review medical records can give you the added information you will need to determine if a MRSA infection caused serious effects with your client or their loved one.

References:
MRSA in Healthcare Settings, October 6, 2006. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved January 2007 from www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_MRSA_spotlight_2006.html.

Medical Encyclopedia: MRSA infection. Medline Plus. Retrieved January 2007 from www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007261.htm.

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