Ministry Door County Medical Center - MRSA Education Program

What is it?

Hospital-sponsored trainings have been offered for hospital staff and community providers – as well as for those who work with children in the community – about how to recognize, treat, and prevent community-associated methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) staph infection. The effort also includes a pamphlet (updated 5/1/13) that is put in every patient admission packet, given to patients through the clinics, located in lobby kiosks, and given to new employees at orientation. The prevention message focuses on proper hygiene and reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics and other preventative measures. The medical center has also developed the Door County Communicable Disease Coalition, a group that meets quarterly with representation from Ministry Door County Medical Center, public health, local community-based residential facilities, nursing homes, school nurses, clinics and free clinics to discuss and provide updates on topics such as all resistant organisms and other communicable diseases occurring in our community and worldwide.

Who is it for?

Initially, the sessions were designed for physicians, who received CME credit, but the hospital opened trainings to all providers in the community, including public health staffers, day care providers, hospital employees, and other health care workers. Our hospital also supports our rehabilitation sport trainer presentations at all schools in Door County to educate parents and sports teams about MRSA.

Why do they do it?

MRSA is resistant to some commonly used antibiotics. In the past, MRSA was mainly found only in health care facilities and caused infection in people who were already compromised with many health care encounters. More recently, MRSA has emerged in the community and can cause infections in otherwise healthy people, generally skin infections. MRSA can spread when people have close contact with others during sports such as wrestling, football, and basketball, for example. It may also affect people who live in crowded living situations such as dormitories.

Impact

Hundreds of community members have gone through the trainings and received pamphlets detailing ways to control the spread of MRSA.

Contact: Julie Pinney, RN
Telephone: 920-746-3725
E-mail: Julie.Pinney@ministryhealth.org

Contact: Kristi Kluge RN, BSN
Telephone: 920-746-3725
E-mail: Kristi.kluge@ministryhealth.org