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I know someone who contracted MRSA after randomly scraping his knee. Almost killed him, and it came out of nowhere. Some hospitals have MRSA fatality rates over

by tumult 17y ago

I know someone who contracted MRSA after randomly scraping his knee. Almost killed him, and it came out of nowhere. Some hospitals have MRSA fatality rates over 20%. Scary as shit! Antibiotics abuse has screwed us, I guess, along with the sloppiness of many healthcare providers.

carbocation 17y ago
Patients are equally sloppy. When they feel better, many discontinue antibiotic use. Providers too readily prescribe antibiotics to try to appease patients with, say, an obvious viral respiratory infection, but these are most often less valuable antibiotics such as first generation penicillins anyways. Judicious antibiotic use is important, both for patient and provider, but there is a more pernicious problem lurking: the use of late-generation antibiotics - still critical for hospital use - in feed to produce larger livestock more cheaply.
- tumult 17y ago
  Yep. In general, we too often use our powerful weapons with disregard, and it's coming back to bite us in the ass.
electromagnetic 17y ago
MRSA lives in the community just as much, if not more, than it lives in the hospitals. From what I know of the area, some hospitals had up to 80% community-acquired infections as opposed to hospital-acquired infections, this meant that the majority of these patients were being killed by their families. I know many ICU's in the UK have full out bans on any family members entering, because if anyone in an ICU catches MRSA they're gone. It's easy to blame the healthcare providers, and I'm sure in many cases it is the healthcare providers' fault. However, if they simply flat-out banned people from visiting in the hospital MRSA infection rates (in good hospitals) would drop like a rock. I wouldn't be surprised if hospitals with MRSA fatality rates over 20% allow visitors in the ICU and don't have well established visitor protocols in the regular hospital. I know some wards in the UK (I have friends and family who work in hospitals) will escort you out if they see you go between patients' beds; essentially they allow you to visit 1 person per day, and they frequently have visiting hours only a couple hours long so they can actively enforce this. My advice to anyone visiting a friend in hospital, don't touch them. No handshakes, especially no hugs. This seems extreme, but patients have died from MRSA infection in key-hole surgery incisions.
- tumult 17y ago
  Right, I think it is sloppy of a hospital to allow people to walk in and cause that kind of damage. I think not allowing outsiders into the ICU could be a good move for many.

by tumult 17y ago

carbocation 17y ago

Patients are equally sloppy. When they feel better, many discontinue antibiotic use. Providers too readily prescribe antibiotics to try to appease patients with, say, an obvious viral respiratory infection, but these are most often less valuable antibiotics such as first generation penicillins anyways. Judicious antibiotic use is important, both for patient and provider, but there is a more pernicious problem lurking: the use of late-generation antibiotics - still critical for hospital use - in feed to produce larger livestock more cheaply.

tumult 17y ago
Yep. In general, we too often use our powerful weapons with disregard, and it's coming back to bite us in the ass.

electromagnetic 17y ago

MRSA lives in the community just as much, if not more, than it lives in the hospitals. From what I know of the area, some hospitals had up to 80% community-acquired infections as opposed to hospital-acquired infections, this meant that the majority of these patients were being killed by their families. I know many ICU's in the UK have full out bans on any family members entering, because if anyone in an ICU catches MRSA they're gone. It's easy to blame the healthcare providers, and I'm sure in many cases it is the healthcare providers' fault. However, if they simply flat-out banned people from visiting in the hospital MRSA infection rates (in good hospitals) would drop like a rock. I wouldn't be surprised if hospitals with MRSA fatality rates over 20% allow visitors in the ICU and don't have well established visitor protocols in the regular hospital. I know some wards in the UK (I have friends and family who work in hospitals) will escort you out if they see you go between patients' beds; essentially they allow you to visit 1 person per day, and they frequently have visiting hours only a couple hours long so they can actively enforce this. My advice to anyone visiting a friend in hospital, don't touch them. No handshakes, especially no hugs. This seems extreme, but patients have died from MRSA infection in key-hole surgery incisions.

tumult 17y ago
Right, I think it is sloppy of a hospital to allow people to walk in and cause that kind of damage. I think not allowing outsiders into the ICU could be a good move for many.