Deadly Infections Down at VA Hospitals

A recent attempt to stamp out or at least lower fatal infections at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals around the country has resulted in astounding success.

According to a story in The New York Times, an aggressive four-year study of 153 VA hospitals nationwide found a 62 percent drop in the rate of infections caused by a deadly bacteria called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureous, or MRSA in intensive care units and a 45 percent decrease in MRSA infections in other hospital wards, like surgical and rehabilitative.

The VA strategy used screening all patients with nasal swabs for the presence of MRSA, isolating those who tested positive, requiring that staff treating those patients wear gloves and gowns and mandating rigorous hand-washing. Some hospitals not included in the study go so far as to order health care workers not to wear jewelry on their hands, or ties,which can brush over patients during contact and have been shown to carry hundreds of bacteria.

Even more encouraging, a study done last year on MRSA infections discovered that its occurrence in nine cities dropped by 28 percent between 2005 and 2008. A study of 9,000 cases between 2005 and 2006 was the first real exploration of ways to decrease deadly infections in a randomized, controlled trial, the most accurate kind of investigation.

However, the study released Wednesday found that healthcare workers wore gloves only 82 percent of the time, put on gowns only 77 percent of the time, and washed their hands only 69 percent after patient contact.

According to The New York Times, infection rates had been unchanged in the two years before the new approach was undertaken system-wide in 2007.

The hospitals then saw significant decreases in every form of MRSA. Each hospital spent between $160,000 and $300,000 to hire a prevention coordinator and lab technician and to purchase testing supplies, gowns and gloves.

The VA started the intervention program after finding that 14 percent of VA patients carried MRSA — compared to 6.3 percent of non-VA hospital patients and 1.5 percent of the general population. More than 1.7 million screening tests for MRSA were done during the period reported in the analysis.
Veterans Affairs operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States with more than 1,000 medical facilities throughout the United States serving more than 6 million veterans a year.

Some health care officials debated the true need for universal testing of patients for MRSA upon admission and discharge, saying it was too expensive and time-consuming and had not really been proved as effective.

Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM (News - Alert) in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.