I’ve written this post in preparation for next week’s Journal Club in partnership with the Healthcare Infection Society themed around their MRSA article collection: “MRSA: the enduring foe”. Having spent a fair bit of time this week looking at post-infection reviews related to MRSA bloodstream infections, I can vouch for how well this particular foe has endured, even in a relatively low prevalence setting!
Continue readingadmission screening
Need to save some money? Then universal admission screening for CPE is for you!
Many guidelines now recommend screening some patients on admission for carriage of CPE. However, very few cost-effectiveness analyses have been performed. A Canadian group have just published a modelling study with a tantalising conclusion: universal admission screening for CPE is likely to be cost-effective, and may even be cost-saving!
Balancing risk and resource for CPE screening
The PHE Toolkit recommends pre-emptive isolation for patients who meet one of the risk-factor triggers for CPE screening. Furthermore, the pre-emptive isolation recommended in the Toolkit should be continued until three negative screens are obtained, each separated by 48 hours. In what is best described as a data-based thought experiment, colleagues from Imperial tested the impact of various CPE screening strategies on the burden of contact precautions generated.
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 