Hospitals use isolation as weapon against spreading of drug-resistant infections

print this

Intensified hygiene and confinement: these are the best ways to fight hospital infections.
      That was the view taken on Tuesday when representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health met with the directors of Finland’s various hospital districts to discuss how to bring under control the surprise advance of hospital infections that took off from the spring.
     
”It is true that the number of MRSA infection cases is 30 per cent up from last year. But we will not resort to asking for additional funding just yet”, says Merja Saarinen, Ministerial Counsellor for Health Affairs at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
      A sufficient number of staff was one of the questions raised. The mapping-out of hygiene teams has not been realised in a long time, but based on past good experiences a spirit of consensus prevailed on their importance.
      According to Saarinen, the education and consultation aimed at health centres and care institutions with long-term patients has born fruit. Still, the hospital districts carry the main responsibility in infection prevention.
     
Quick responses and isolating patients are important in restraining the illness. When renovating hospitals or building new ones, one must ensure a sufficient number of single-occupancy rooms, to which carrier patients can be confined.
      The hospital districts have already invested in controlling the spreading of hospital bacteria.
      As a good example of this Saarinen mentions the efforts carried out in connection with the Töölö Hospital epidemic in 2004.
     
The two microbes that are a cause of particular concern are the "hospital super-bug" MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is resistant to normal antibiotics, and the intestinal bacteria Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhoea.
     
A record number of both infections has been reported from the hospital districts this year.
      Even though the bacteria are quite dissimilar, the means of averting them are largely the same. The most important weapons are a staff keen on their hand hygiene, and a patient’s chance for a private room.
      Spreading information on the infections is also among the preventive measures.
      “The use of antibiotics even among doctors working in hospitals is sometimes rather careless”, points out Docent Esa Rintala from Department of Infections Diseases at Satakunta Central Hospital.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Antibiotic-resistant MRSA hospital bacteria spreading faster than ever (26.8.2008)

Links:
  MRSA (Wikipedia)
  Clostridium difficile (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat