mrsa

[netibiza]

If someone has mrsa, can they have visitors in hospital or are they put in isolation??

[Eastender]

Someone I knew had MRSA and when I went to visit, I had to wash my hands and put an apron (plastic) on and on leaving wash my hands again. There should be a bottle of wash near the door. If you are not sure why dont you telephone the hospital to verify. And on another note when you get home change your clothes and wash them I would also spray the bottom of your shoes with some anti bactrial spray. Better to be safe.

[OBonio]

They are put in isolation from other patients (unless a whole ward has it.. in which case the ward is isolated), but they can have visitors yes.

[netibiza]

It's just that over here in Ibiza, people are saying a certain person had mrsa when in fact it isn't on the island, and also that they visited a friend in St Mary's, Paddington, and didn't have to take any precautions so I really query it. If this is the case, no wonder it's spreading!!!. On the other hand, last year I visited my bro-in-law in a private clinic and even though he did not have mrsa we had to wear protective clothing and wash our hands and not touch the patient (he was in for a hernia op).

[sense4all]

My Mum had it in an NHS hospital and was treated with some kind of nasal spray. We were not asked to take special precautions but as we have families ourselves, we used our own alcohol cleanser. This was our first brush with hospitals, and I was surprised at the laissez-faire attitudes of most of the staff with respect to cross contamination. This hospital was in Berkshire.

[alijangra]

A high percentage of the general public in the community have mrsa anyway. Im quite sure a high percentage of care staff will have it too. I suggest you do some reading about it, from the replies given here it is obviously very misunderstood mostly due to the way it is portrayed in the media.

[alijangra]

also, how do you know its not on the island unless every single person who sets foot on the island has had a full screening done?? Utter nonsense!

[fergtp]

Interestingly handwashing and MRSA is a bit of a myth... the best way of reducing MRSA is not hand washing, but bed occuppency. A standard NHS AE/Acute admission bed has 3 different people sleeping in it in a 24hr period ! If we simply had more beds (and time to fully clean them) MRSA rates could be seriously reduced. (Rather than closing beds....)

[netibiza]

alijandra - I know that the mrsa virus is carried in normal people's throats and more often than not causes no problems. What I meant by not on the island (which I would have thought was obvious) is that in the one NHS hospital and the one private clinic there have been no reported cases. (I speak in shorthand as the hospital is Insalud and not NHS but not many people would understand it's one and the same thing.) There are no other health establishments.

[alijangra]

You stated it was not on the island. I replied to that. You can nit-pick what I said in reply, I really dont care. I stand by my reply that many of the answers to your post are quite obviously ill-informed. The only precautions required are to wash your hands thoroughly, and very large notices to this effect are posted all over the hospitals in which I work. Obviously I cant speak for the rest of the country, or Ibiza for that matter.