Korean J Nosocomial Infect Control.  2004 Jun;9(1):17-25.

Effects of Basic Hospital Infection Control Methods on the Isolation Rate of Methicillin: Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

• Heo E
• Kim ES
• Kim BN
• Whang DH
• Jeong JW
• Lee BR
• Yum HK
• Shin BM
• Jun BH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is highly prevalent in hospitals in Korea. The overall rate of MRSA in hospitals in Korea was estimated over 60%. Recently hospital infections caused by MRSA are getting increased and problematic in Korea, Our hospital Seoul Paik Hospital, has been trying to solve this problem. We had not applied exact methods for hospital infection control. Therefore, we adapted strict methods under the control of hospital infection control committee (HICC) and assessed the effectiveness of these methods.
METHODS
Every month, the number of MRSA isolates was collected and analyzed; the results of the analysis were reported to every ward. All wards were supplied with Microshild(R) (Johnson & Johnson, Australia), Clean N' Fresh(R) (Carroll, USA), and standard paper towels. Health care workers were regularly educated for hospital infection control. The use of antibiotics was controlled by the HICC. We compared MRSA isolation rate between before and after applying the strict infection control methods under the regulation of HICC. Mann-Whitney U test, one-way ANOVA, and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis of the results.
RESULTS
After restricting the uses of antibiotics, glycopeptides and carbapenems were prescribed 15% less (20.3 vs 17.3 DDD /1000 patient-days) and 35% less (9.3 vs 6.0 DDD /1000 patient-days) respectively, compared to before restricting antibiotics. Methicillin resistance rate was decreased from 78% to 69% compared to before the methods(p=0.02). The isolation rate of MRSA was reduced by 31-42% from 2.33 to 1.35-1.60/1000 patient-days compared to before adapting strict infection control methods (p=0.04-0.07).
CONCLUSION
This study showed that applying the strict infection control methods in the hospital can be effective to reduce the isolation rate of MRSA.

Keyword

Hospital infection control; Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Isolation rate

MeSH Terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carbapenems
Cross Infection*
Delivery of Health Care
Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane
Glycopeptides
Infection Control
Korea
Methicillin Resistance
Methicillin*
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Seoul
Staphylococcus aureus*
Staphylococcus*
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carbapenems
Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane
Glycopeptides
Methicillin