Study: Universal screening fails to reduce MRSA infections

A study to be reported in the March 12th Journal of the American Medical Association found that screening patients for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus on admission to the hospital did not reduce the MRSA infection rate. The study of more than 21,000 surgical patients at a Swiss teaching hospital compared the use of rapid screening plus standard infection control measures with infection control measures alone.

“Overall, our real-life trial did not show an added benefit for widespread rapid screening on admission compared with standard MRSA control alone in preventing nosocomial MRSA infections in a large surgical department,” the authors conclude.

[ via AHA News Now ]