By Healthcare Facilities Today

Adhering to hand-hygiene protocols was one of four efforts in the VA’s MRSA Prevention Initiative that led to sharp decrease in MRSA rates, according to an article on the Healthcare Facilities Management magazine website.

A nationwide initiative by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at 133 of its long-term care facilities found that using a bundled approach to prevention helped to cut overall MRSA rates by 36 percent. 

The VA's MRSA Prevention Initiative calls for screening every patient for MRSA, using gowns and gloves when caring for patients colonized or infected with MRSA, following hand-hygiene protocols and an institutional culture change focusing on individual responsibility for infection control, according to the article.

In addition, the VA created the new position of MRSA prevention coordinator at each center. 

"We previously reported that a MRSA Prevention Initiative was associated with significant decreases in MRSA HAIs in acute care facilities over a 33-month period in a large health care system. Here we show that the initiative also was associated with decreased rates of MRSA HAIs in VA community living centers without a corresponding decrease in MRSA admission prevalence," the authors said. 

Read the article.