The Maine Health and Human Services Committee had the opportunity on Tuesday, March 9, to remove the veil of secrecy from MRSA in the State of Maine. It did not happen. The suggestion was made that public, mandatory MRSA specific reporting through the National Heath Safety Network (CDC administered) be started. They didn’t do it. They missed the opportunity to make hospitals accountable and transparent. Secrecy, lack of disclosure and accountability have historically been problems with MRSA. These problems remain in Maine. Many other States are reporting to NHSN. ARRA funds were sent to Maine to encourage us to report to NHSN. Over 20 hospitals have sent staff to be trained to do this reporting……..
BUT…in Maine the reporting that is proposed by the Maine CDC, for MRSA, is not to begin until 2012, is ONLY a proposal, and is not mandated and the results will not be public. What good is that to anyone except hospitals and the Maine CDC? What will the result of such reporting be? Not much..it is voluntary, secretive and useless and inaccessable for consumers.
Public reporting forces hospitals to COMPARE, COMPETE AND IMPROVE. The March 2010 Consumer Report article regarding public reporting of hospital acquired bacteremia proved that.
In January next year, we will go back, armed with the results of the MRSA prevalence test, experience from this past year dealing with dishonest, but powerful hospitals and their lobby, and the fact that MRSA is still alive and well in our hospitals ………and we will fight for MRSA prevention in the form of Active Detection and Isolation and patient safety in Maine. We will also fight to remove the shield of secrecy and deceipt that shields our hospital (from any accountability) by proposing mandatory, public, MRSA specific reporting in the State of Maine.
Kathy Uncategorized Maine, Maine cdc, Maine Health and Human services committee, Maine hospital MRSA, Maine MRSA screening. Maine MRSA prevalence, Mrsa, mrsa reporting, MRSA secrecy
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/135860.html
Below is a photo of a Hand MRSA. Many of the infections on Vinalhaven affected the hands.
This is an update on a link I added here a few days back. It is good to hear that the MRSA outbreak on Vinalhaven Island in Maine has been controlled. Comments in this article make it sound like they were plagued with flea bites.
MRSA is a bit more serious than claimed here. Some of these victims had to be treated with powerful IV antibiotics. Some of them will be plagued with repeated infections and all of the victims families have been exposed within their homes to MRSA. Simple exposure is not in and of itself a problem. But, many of them may have become colonized. that means they will carry the MRSA bug. That is also not a problem UNLESS they become gravely ill and/or need hospitalization for invasive procedure. MRSA can then rear it’s ugly head and cause a myriad of problems. Patients must make their doctor and hospital aware of their close exposure to the infection. If the doctor does not order a MRSA screening, the patient should demand one. If they are colonized, they can have a simple treatment that will decrease their chances of serious active infection a great deal. And, they can be separated from patient who do not carry MRSA thus avoiding spread of the desease.
I suggested that former MRSA patients and caretakers of MRSA patients to be included in the populations to be screened by our hospitals here in Maine. They were not included. My opinion is that was a big mistake. Nobody wants to incite panic, but a little bit of panic makes people pay attention and absorb important information about their health and risks to it. MRSA status on admission to the hospitals is a very important status to be aware of.
So, it is good that the Maine CDC got right on this outbreak and worked to control it. I just hope they added this important patient education (about avoiding serious infection in the future) to their investigation process on the Island.
Kathy Uncategorized bangor daily news, hand mrsa, Maine cdc, Mrsa, mrsa colonization, mrsa infection, mrsa screening, MRSA spread, Vinalhaven Maine outbreak
