ICUs need more MRSA isolation rooms.
Intensive care units (ICUs) need to be able to diagnose patients with MRSA quicker and they need more isolation rooms to deal with those affected, a new report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has found. MRSA is a bacterial strain that can cause serious health repercussions because it is resistant to most commonly used antibiotics. It is most frequently found in places where antibiotics are commonly used and where people live close together, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Treatment options are limited and as a result, it is vitally important to develop strategies to stop the spread of MRSA in healthcare environments. The report, Surveillance of MRSA in General ICUs 2010, looked at 33 ICUs nationwide and found ‘large differences in single room resources'. Four ICUs had no single rooms to isolate patients. Of the remaining 29, there were a total of 77 single rooms, ranging from one to 10 per ICU.
