Highlights
- •The Veterans Affairs MRSA Prevention Initiative was implemented in October 2007.
- •MRSA healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates were tracked over 8 years.
- •Monthly HAI rates fell 87.0% in intensive care units (ICUs) and 80.1% in non-ICUs
- •MRSA HAI rates fell 80.9% in spinal cord injury units and 49.4% in long-term care.
- •All were all statistically significant declines (P < .0001 for trend).
Background
Declines in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) health care associated infections (HAIs) were previously reported in Veterans
Affairs acute care (2012), spinal cord injury (SCIU) (2011), and long-term-care facilities
(LTCFs) (2012). Here we report continuing declines in infection rates in these settings
through September 2015.
Methods
Monthly data entered into a national database from 127 acute care facilities, 22 SCIUs,
and 133 LTCFs were evaluated for trends using negative binomial regression.
Results
There were 23,153,240 intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU, and 1,794,234 SCIU patient-days
from October 2007-September 2015, and 22,262,605 LTCF resident-days from July 2009-September
2015. Admission nasal swabbing remained >92% in all 3 venues. Admission prevalence
changed from 13.2%-13.5% in acute care, from 35.1%-32.0% in SCIUs, and from 23.1%-25.0%
in LTCFs during the analysis periods. Monthly HAI rates fell 87.0% in ICUs, 80.1%
in non-ICUs, 80.9% in SCIUs, and 49.4% in LTCFs (all P values < .0001 for trend). During September 2015, there were 2 MRSA HAIs reported
in ICUs, 20 (with 3 in SCIUs) in non-ICUs, and 31 in LTCFs nationwide.
Conclusions
MRSA HAI rates declined significantly in acute care, SCIUs, and LTCFs over 8 years
of the Veterans Affairs MRSA Prevention Initiative.
Key Words
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Article info
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
