Leaders from hospitals, rehabilitation centers and dialysis centers in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia recently met to expand a pilot program to reduce the transmission of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a strain of staph resistant to some antibiotics.
They are working with the Maryland Patient Safety Center, which studies the causes of unsafe practices and implements improvements to prevent errors, according to the center?s Web site.
Mary Jozwik, vice president of patient safety and quality at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, one of the 10 participating Maryland hospitals in the program, spoke to The Examiner about the program and staph infections.
What?s the goal of the program, and why should it be a priority?
MRSA is a bug that?s been around for a long, long time. It exists everywhere like hospitals, nursing homes and schools. … The program is a grassroots approach to behavior change.
Our goal is to help identify people who are carriers to help prevent them from spreading MRSA to other patients.
What?s the best way to reduce the transmission of MRSA?
It?s the common-sense things like keeping good hygiene and washing your hands.
But it?s human nature ? people sometimes forget with the hurry we?re always in.
With the patients in the hospital, we try to isolate them, so they won?t affect other patients.
How big is the problem?
It?s a very big problem around the world. In the past couple of years, there?s been a change inthe ways experts deal with it.
But something has to be done.
It?s going to take a lot of time and a lot of money, but it will be done. Twenty years ago, Denmark was in the same situation, but they now have hardly any cases of MRSA.
