FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oklahoma Hospitals Collaborate to Combat Deadly Infections
October is World MRSA Awareness Month
(October 22, 2009, Oklahoma City, Ok) -- In conjunction with MRSA Awareness Month in October, the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ) has brought Oklahoma hospitals together to collaborate on methods for battling MRSA, the most common deadly infection that can be acquired in health care settings. OFMQ also aims to heighten awareness of how MRSA is transmitted and how people can protect themselves.
MRSA stands for Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus. These infections are resistant to many antibiotics and so can be hard to treat. Nationally, MRSA infections kill thousands of people each year and increase health care costs by more than $2.5 billion.
Thirty-one hospitals in Oklahoma are working on a special project to reduce MRSA. Under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), OFMQ provides a collaborative learning opportunity, including nationally-known subject matter experts, to hospitals working on the project. Each hospital builds a team that develops infection control strategies for their hospital, such as early identification of infected patients and increased attention to handwashing.
“Our hospitals are taking a close look at how MRSA is transmitted and what precautionary measures can be taken to prevent the spread of infection,” said Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH, chief executive of OFMQ. “This can involve everyone from the doctors and nurses to the cleaning crews. Effective hand washing is the first line of defense,” he emphasized.
“We have implemented a number of risk reduction strategies including early recognition of MRSA, effective use of special barrier precautions, improved hand hygiene and, in general increasing awareness of the challenge,” said Danny Vardeman, Infection Preventionist at Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton. “We have appreciated the learning opportunity through the OFMQ collaborative, the resources they provide and working with other hospitals sharing successful strategies,” he said.
MRSA is prevalent in most healthcare facilities, and the elderly and sick are vulnerable. Healthy patients can also contract MRSA. The infection is spread by contact, mostly skin to skin contact.
MRSA skin infections often begin with an injury and develop into an infection. These infections can be dangerous for people who have had surgery, those with IV lines and catheters and for people with a cast or heavy bandages that can mask the infection.
Symptoms are: redness, warmth, swelling, tenderness of the skin, boils and blisters. In serious cases, the patient may develop severe skin infections, bloodstream infections and death. It is important once a patient has left a healthcare facility and has any of these symptoms to seek medical attention immediately.
Nationally, invasive MRSA infections occur in approximately 94,000 persons each year, resulting in about 19,000 deaths each year. Oklahoma hospitals are required by state law to report certain infections of adult intensive care unit patients to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Health Safety Network (NHSN).
CMS is looking closely at MRSA and other healthcare-associated infections as an opportunity for healthcare facilities to improve care and reduce costs. “We are deeply concerned about the upward trend in MRSA infections over the past few decades, particularly in those patients who are already acutely ill enough to require inpatient hospitalization,” said Paul E. McGann, M.D., Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Reducing the rates of hospital-acquired MRSA is one of the key areas where we as a healthcare community can come together and implement common-sense solutions to reduce or eliminate causes of patient harm that result from patients’ interactions with the healthcare system, rather than from other causes,” said McGann. “Reducing MRSA rates in healthcare facilities will by definition increase the value of healthcare services as it produces higher quality care for Medicare beneficiaries, and by turn, all patients.”
For more information on World MRSA Day events and participation, please visit www.worldmrsaday.org.
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About Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality
Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ) is a not-for-profit health care quality improvement organization (QIO) dedicated to improving health care and improving lives. For 37 years, OFMQ has played an integral role in ensuring quality medical services through health care review, quality improvement projects and public education. Working in partnership with physicians, hospitals, nursing homes and other health organizations, we provide expert consulting for clinical and organizational quality improvement. Based in Oklahoma City, we serve providers and consumers throughout the state, and we contribute expertise and resources to advance health care quality improvement through national-level initiatives. OFMQ holds contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. www.ofmq.com