MRSA Notes

If you need any sort of a surgical procedure, you run the risk of getting an infection, but there are many things you can do that will help prevent getting an infection. Please don’t be afraid to ask that these guidelines are followed. There is nothing in here that is unreasonable to ask for, and they absolutely could save your life:

1. Ask that hospital staff clean their hands before treating you, and ask visitors to clean their hands too.

2. Before your doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to your chest, ask that the diaphragm (or flat surface of the stethoscope) be wiped with alcohol. The same precautions should be taken for many other commonly used pieces of equipment too.

3. If you many need a “central line” catheter, ask your doctor about the benefits of one that is antibiotic-impregnated or silver-chlorhexidine coated to reduce infections.

4. If you need surgery, choose a surgeon with a low infection rate. Surgeons know their rate of infection for various procedures. Ask for it. If they won’t tell you, consider choosing another surgeon.

5. Beginning three to five days before surgery, shower daily with 4% chlorhexidine soap. Drug stores that don’t stock chlorhexidine soap are generally happy to order it for you. You don’t need a prescription. One of the easiest brands to find is Hibiclens.

6. Ask your surgeon to have you tested for Staphylococcus aureus at least one week before you come into the hospital.

7. Stop smoking well in advance of your surgery. Patients who smoke are three times as likely to develop a surgical site infection as nonsmokers, and have significantly slower recoveries and longer hospital stays.

8. On the day of your operation, remind your doctor that you may need an antibiotic one hour before the first incision. For many types of surgery, a pre-surgical antibiotic is the standard of care, but it is often overlooked by busy hospital staff.

9. Ask your doctor about keeping you warm during surgery. Operating rooms are often kept cold for the comfort of the staff, but research shows that for many types of surgery, patients who are kept warm resist infection better.

10. Do not shave the surgical site. Razors can create small nicks in the skin, through which bacteria can enter. If hair must be removed before surgery, ask that clippers be used instead of a razor.

11. Ask that your surgeon limit the number of personnel (including medical students) in the operating room. Every increase in the number of people adds to your risk of infection.

12. Ask your doctor about monitoring your glucose (sugar) levels continuously during and after surgery, especially if you are having cardiac surgery. The stress of surgery often makes glucose levels spike erratically. New research shows that when blood glucose levels are tightly controlled to stay between 80-110 mg/unit, heart patients resist infection better. Continue monitoring even when you are discharged from the hospital, because you are not fully healed yet.

13. Avoid a urinary tract catheter if possible. It is a common cause of infection.

14. If you must have an IV, make sure that it is inserted and removed under clean conditions and changed every 3 to 4 days.

15. If you are planning to have your baby by Cesarean section, follow the steps listed above as if you were having any other type of surgery.

This list of how to prevent hospital acquired infections is from RID, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, and is a shortened version. For footnotes and more detail, be sure and read the full information at RID.

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Education, HA MRSA, Infection Prevention, MRSA

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