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Infection control

Methicillin
Resistant
Staphylococcus
Aureus

Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacteria or germ which commonly lives in the nose and on the skin. Most people who carry Staphylococcus aureus bacteria do not have an infection. Sometimes people develop infections with these bacteria and require treatment.

When common antibiotics are not able to destroy Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterium is called “resistant”, or MRSA. MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Infections caused by MRSA are not more serious than infections caused by the regular Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. However, only a few antibiotics will treat MRSA infections.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteremia is defined as a patient identified with laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.

Reporting

Every three (3) months, you will find MRSA infection rates for SJGHEL posted on our website as required by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Included in the table is data on the number of new hospital-acquired cases and the rate for the quarter (3 months). To ensure patient confidentiality, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has advised hospitals that have between one and four cases in a month to report the number of cases as “less than 5”.

Infection Prevention and Control Indicators

Calculating Rate

The MRSA rate is calculated as a rate per 1,000 patient days. The “total patient days” represents the sum of the number of days during which services were provided to all inpatients during the given time period.

The rate is calculated as follows:

  • Number of new hospital-acquired MRSA bloodstream infections in our facility X 1000 / Total number of patient days (for 3 months)
SJGHEL’s Current MRSA Report