MRSA Testing for ICU Patients

 

 One more test could be one less thing to worry about if your loved one winds up in an intensive care unit.  Doctors are already aware that testing ICU patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has the potential to save lives, now a new study finds screening patients can save money too.  A team of researchers at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center have found testing patients for MRSA can save as much as 500-dollars per hospital admission. 
Most importantly, knowing a patient is infected with the antibiotic-resistant bacteria gives doctors added time to treat the infection before it becomes severe.
 Every year about 19-thousand deaths are associated with MRSA according to the Centers for Disease Control.  One survey found 46 out of every 1,000 inpatients were infected or colonized with the hard to treat bacteria which is significantly higher than previous estimates.
  Some policy-makers have pushed for universal screening to reduce hospital-acquired MRSA infections which in my opinion is a sound idea.  Keeping MRSA in check gives doctors a better shot at successfully treating ICU patients and patients a better chance of pulling through.