National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:2 5/29/09 12:19 PM Page 6 Maine RNs Pass MRSA Law MAINE L ast september, Kathy Day's 83year-old father entered Millinocket Regional Hospital in Maine for a minor break of his leg. He spent 12 days there rehabilitating and was discharged in good condition. A few days after he returned home, however, he was so weak and running such a high fever that he suffered a heart attack and had to be readmitted to the hospital. It would be six full days before the hospital figured out that a methicillin-resistant staph infection, often called MRSA for short, had colonized his body and he was started on the big-gun antibiotics. He stayed in the hospital for 20 days before being sent to a nursing home, where he died on Jan. 9, 2009. "He just wasted away. He never once got better," said Day, a retired RN. "I'm convinced MRSA is what killed him." Thanks to the work of Day and CNA/ NNOC RN members in Maine, however, other patients in the state will not have to suffer what Day's father endured. Maine nurses this spring successfully lobbied to pass LD 1038, the state's first law requiring screening of MRSA for high-risk populations of patients in Maine hospitals. Rep. Adam Goode sponsored the legislation. A companion bill, LD 960, was also passed requiring public reporting of hospitals' adoption of MRSA prevention plans, and staff RN representation on the Maine Infection Prevention Committee, a state body tasked with helping implement the law. MRSA cases are not isolated occurrences in Maine. Maine hospitals ranked fourth highest for MRSA prevalence rates in the United States, at 68.7 per 1,000 inpatients, according to a survey conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. Overall, hospital-acquired infections are the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, and MRSA seriously infects about 94,000 people each year, killing about 19,000 patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Maine RNs recognized this widespread problem and worked hard to pass the law by organizing nurse, legislative, and community support. Many traveled to Augusta to give first-hand testimony of patients who suffered from delayed detection of MRSA. 6 REGISTERED NURSE Above: Maine RNs traveled to Augusta in support of MRSA screening bill. Left: RN Dawn Kerekes testifies before the Legislature "If we have early screening, patients will get treated quicker with more efficient medications, we'll decrease patient mortality, cost, and cross contamination," said Tammy Farwell, an ICU RN at Houlton Regional Hospital. Farwell recently cared for a pneumonia patient who wasn't getting better at all. Everyone suspected him of harboring a massive MRSA infection, but he wasn't able W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G to cough up a sputum sample for four days. During that time, he was not isolated or put on MRSA precautions. When the hospital finally determined he had MRSA, his medications were changed and "lo and behold, he im proved," said Farwell. "That was four days of increased medical costs, and four days of increased suffering for him. If we had had a MRSA screen, we would have known in a short time and he would have been dealt with immediately." MRSA screening usually involves the purchase of kits costing between $4 and $20. High-risk populations, such as ICU and surgical patients, elderly patients from nursing homes, or people who have spent time in prison facilities, are automatically tested. —staff report M AY 2 0 0 9

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