The Difficulties of Treating MRSA
MRSA is difficult to treat because of it's resistance. Acquired immune
processes include the body's adaptive response to antibiotics. ie when
given the body makes specific antibodies to combat MRSA by destroying
it's outer membrane. Antibiotics can be given orally or through
injections. The main antibiotics used are vancomycin and rifampicin
and they are most effective when used in combination. If it's used
early then it can eradicate the infection within 48 hours. Moreover,
as a preventative measure it may be given immediately after surgery
(particularly invasive techniques.) Vancomycin is considered the "last
line of defence" but alone it may be ineffective as, although rare in
the UK certain strains of (non-classic) MRSA can be resistant to the
antibiotic(s.)
Vancomycin can also have serious side effects. Patients can develop
experience liver and kidney damage. Alternative antibiotics in use are
linezolid and flucloxacillin.
Flucloxacillin is more common in community practice. In l994 a warning
was placed on the listing of its use due to a possible association
with cholestatic hepatitis. However, with MRSA infections, the
morbidity and potential mortality are high and the benefits of
flucloxacillin far outweigh the risks.
Linezolid is also effective. Infact, it may be equivalent to
Vancomycin in the treatment of MRSA infections. Research conducted by
the Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that this is safer than
vancomycin
There is also a class of antibiotics which may work on destroying the
biofilm MRSA cause on medical equipment such as catheters. The biofilm
provide MRS...
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... Additional alternatives include creams and shampoos may also be used.
This may be for pets as well as the patient, because domestic animals
may carry the MRSA in their coats and transmit it to those who are
vulnerable. New research has found a compound that occurs naturally in
garlic called allicin and this has been developed into a cream for
people with MRSA. It is highly effective against MRSA and can be
applied to the skin and nostrils.
A new nasal spray has also been developed. It contains phages which
when sprayed in the nose or even work surfaces kill MRSA.
Assuming the infection is around a sore, further alternatives to
antibiotics include draining the sore. The Government has emphasised
that hospitals should use less antibiotics to limit the opportunity
for bacteria to develop resistance (opportunistic.)
Meanwhile, a study made by Palmer found that inhaled antibiotics used as adjunct to systemic antibiotic therapy has proven to improve the clinical outcome of patients with MDR VAP (6). The study also showed a direct relationship between antibiotic resistance with the se of systematic antibiotics. Aerosolized antibiotic used in this study that are proven to be effective are: amikacin, colistin, ceftazidime, gentamicin, tobramycin, sisomycin, and yancomycin.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), MRSA is easily transmitted from person to person or from touching materials or surfaces that had previous contact with the infection. Using the implementation of infection control along with patient education will help in the decrease of the spread and help in the prevention in MRSA as well as get patients involved in their own care. The purpose of this paper is to present the problem of MRSA as well as include the rationale and history, review the proposed solution, integrate an implementation plan, summarize the literature review, establish an implementation plan, use a nursing theory to support the implementation plan, use a change theory to support the implementation plan, discuss how the project will be evaluated, and create a dissemination
It is undeniable that the recent discovery of antibiotics and disinfectants in the past century is leading to the creation of increasingly dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Super bugs like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus have begun breaking out in hospital areas, killing more and more patients due to the lack of people following through with simple safety measures. In order to stop the creation and spread of antibiotic-resistant super bugs, proper precautions must be taken such as avoiding antibacterial cleaners, following through with instructions when taking prescriptions and maintaining adequate hand hygiene. Through adhering to basic safety rules, the creation and spread of super bugs can be minimized and all together discontinued from occurring at such a rapid rate.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the most important issues facing health care today, with wide reaching future implications if abuse continues. In the United States alone, antibiotic resistance is responsible for over two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths per year. Providers need to be judicious in the disbursement of these life saving pharmacological agents, while being informative of why antibiotics are not always the answer (Talkington, Cairns, Dolen, & Mothershed, 2014). In the case listed below, several issues need to be addressed including perception, knowledge deficit, and the caregiver’s role. This paper will focus on whether a prescription for antibiotics is appropriate and other courses of action that may be taken instead.
Life History and Characteristics: Staphylococcus aureus is a gram positive bacterium that is usually found in the nasal passages and on the skin of 15 to 40% of healthy humans, but can also survive in a wide variety of locations in the body. This bacterium is spread from person to person or to fomite by direct contact. Colonies of S. aureus appear in pairs, chains, or clusters. S. aureus is not an organism that is contained to one region of the world and is a universal health concern, specifically in the food handling industries.
Long before humans discovered antibiotics, they existed in nature. So naturally, after penicillin was introduced, some germs were already naturally resistant to the drug. As we used more and more of the antibiotics, we incidentally caused drug-resistant germs to progress. So, even if you’ve never misused antibiotics, you could still become infected by bacterium most drugs won’t kill. For each drug, there are germs genetically programmed to survive- some w/ outer walls tough for antibiotic to cross, others with ways to dump the drugs back out before they can work, and yet others can inactivate the antibiotic. Even worse, by passing tiny packets of genetic material to other bacteria, these survivor germs sometimes also pass the formula for resistance to the other bacteria. The best way you can protect yourself and your family against drug-resistant bacteria is by using antibiotics correctly. Taking them when they’re not needed encourages the takeover of drug-resistant strains in your body. (Redbook, pg.95) That’s because when antibiotics are given, the normal bacteria in your body are killed off, leaving lots of bacterial “parking spaces'; open. And the germ left to fill them is the drug-resistant ones. (Redbook, pg.95) So far, antibiotic resistance has not been a big problem with streptococcus A, the germ familiar to all of us for causing millions of cases of strep thr...
The principle sites of nosocomial infections in patients, in order from most common to least common are: urinary tract, surgical wounds, respiratory tract, skin, blood, gastrointestinal tract, and central nervous system (Abedon). According to the CDC, the most common pathogens that cause nosocomial infections are Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeurginosa, and Escherichia coli (EHA). Methicillin resistant Staphylococcal aureus (MRSA) is a strain of bacteria that is commonly...
...of initial dual antibiotic therapy compared with single antibiotic therapy on mortality. Both groups of treatment received the first dose of antibiotic therapy within eight hours of admission. In the single antibiotic therapy group, patient received cefuroxime and for the dual antibiotic therapy group patients either received a Beta-lactam such as ceftriaxone or cefuroxime and macrolide. In the single antibiotic group 21% of the participants were considered immunocompromised whereas 17% of the participants were considered immunocompromised in the dual antibiotic group. The researchers were able to conclude that the single antibiotic therapy group had increase in mortality than the dual therapy group. It was concluded that initial empiric dual therapy with Beta lactam antibiotic and a macrolide decreases mortality in immunocompromised patients diagnosed with CAP.
Patient education is of paramount importance if MRSA is to be reduced to its lowest minimum. According to Noble 2009, patient’s education stands a critical component of managing MRSA therefore; nurses are expected to be prompt in educating patients on specific measures in limiting and reducing the spread of MRSA by person to person contact. (Noble, 2009) The specific measures includes definition of MRSA, mode of transmission, the damage it can do to the body, specific treatments available and the process of treatment. This is to help the patient take part in the care. Noble 2009 explains that during care giving nurses and all other healthcare provider involve in giving care to a patient should communicate to patient all the precaution that will prevent the transmission of MRSA, and also giving the scientific rationale for the use of any precaution that is been used in the cause of care giving. (Noble, 2009.)
, prevention and control in our hospitals, have left South Africa, like the rest of the international community, on the brink of a return to an era of stubbornly resistant pathogenic bacteria towards antibiotics.
In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.
...d rectal thermometers and transmission by hands after touching IV or urinary catheters. Enterococci can be intrinsic and can tolerate or resist beta-lactam antibiotics due to containing penicillin-binding proteins. That means they are still able to combine cell wall components. There can be acquired resistance of Enterococci that comprises of resistance to penicillin by beta-lactamases, chloramphenicol, tetracyclines, rifampin, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and vancomycin. There is a potential for cell-wall synthesis because the genes that encrypt intrinsic or acquired vancomycin resistance produce in a peptide to which vancomycin cannot connect. Unfortunately, due to the resistance of penicillin, Enterococci can be inhibited but cannot be killed. Health care professionals are left with limited therapeutic therapy that can be effective in the treatment of VRE.
Biological evolution is defined as any genetic change in a population that is inherited over several, successive generations. (R.Bailey, 2014) The changes accumulate and over time a new species is created. One of the basic mechanisms of evolution is Natural Selection. Natural Selection is random genetic variation occurring within an organisms DNA and the beneficial mutations being preserved because they aid survival. (C.Darwin, 1859) Two notable scientists associated with the theory of evolution include Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.
The most effective way to combat pathogenic bacteria which invade the body is the use of antibiotics. Overexposure to antibiotics can easily lead to resistant strains of bacteria. Resistance is dangerous because bacteria can easily spread from person to person. Simple methods for preventing excessive bacterial spread are often overlooked. Not all preventative measures are even adequate. Doctors and patients often use antibiotics unnecessarily or incorrectly, leading to greater resistance. Antibiotics are used heavily in livestock and this excessive antibiotic use can create resistant bacteria and transfer them to humans. In order to reduce resistant bacteria,
MRSA is a major source of healthcare associated diseases, increased hospital mortality, and leading surgical site infection (Jennings, Bennett, Fisher, & Cook, 2014, p. 83). With the implementation of active surveillance screening and contact isolations program, an overall decrease in hospital associated MRSA infections has been observed (Jennings, Bennett, Fisher, & Cook, 2014, p. 83). The author of this paper will identify a theory that can be used to support the proposed intervention i.e., reduce the transmission of MRSA by active screening in patients at high-risk for MRSA on admission. This paper will then describe the selected theory, and rational for the selection, and how this theory will support the proposed solution and how to incorporate this theory in this project.