McCleary MRSA Prevention

The question I am asked repeatedly is why aren’t families told to use the same precautions as the hospital staff do when the patient has MRSA.

I’m not 100%  sure I can answer that question because I wondered the same thing.  When I helped to care for my father while he was infected with respiratory MRSA, for the first 6 days after he was admitted, there were NO precautions.  That was because he was not diagnosed for that entire time.  Fortunately, both my mother and I, who visited most often, wore clean clothes every day and we didn’t go throughout the hospital to the cafeteria or other rooms.  We only went back and forth to the hospital.  We did not carry MRSA into the hospital and we did not carry it around to other parts of the hospital, although it was a possibility before we were aware and alerted to Dad’s infection.

I believe an accurate answer for visitors of MRSA patients, would be if you are going to be giving care and your clothes are going to be touching the patient or their environment, you should be following hand washing, gloving and gowning exactly the same as the staff.  The nursing staff should instruct you on correct procedure for this and you should do this to protect yourself.  My family all learned meticulous hand washing before gloving and then washing before we left the room.  WE also wore masks while visiting, after Dad was diagnosed with respiratory MRSA.

Then there is the question of small children visiting.  I think that we need to revisit the days of not allowing small children to visit in hospitals.  Many of them, in fact most of them are either in pre schools or day care situations.  MRSA is common in those places.  If a child is not old enough to learn precautions with MRSA patients, they should not be allowed to visit.  It amazes me the number of patients who feel that the hospital room is an appropriate place for a social gathering.  Small children are allowed to crawl on the floors and climb on furniture, and get itno things.  This is unacceptable in hospitals. These activities are a risk to the child and also to the patient because of what the child may be carrying.

There is no standard approach to these precautions for visitors.  Maybe it is time for one.  Anyone who is going to participate in caring for the MRSA patient needs to use the same precautions as the staff, assuming the staff  is using the appropriate precautions.  Visitors who are just stopping by to say hello should at least wash their hands and use gloves and avoid physical contact with the patient and their surroundings.  And they should always check with the nurse before entering the room in case additional instructions are necessary.