Health Ministry to hire graduate nurses

By JOSEPH SIPALAN - jsipalan@thestar.com.my

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/7/nation/10687110&sec=nation

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry is working on creating vacancies at government hospitals to absorb the large number of unemployed graduate nurses.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said a special committee, led by Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman, had been set up to find a solution to the issue.

“We are working on a programme to promote those who are already in the system and the vacancies can then be filled up by the graduates,” he said yesterday.

Liow pointed out that the proposed programme aimed to train the current crop of nurses to specialise in one of the many fields in government hospitals and in the process, create vacancies in lower-level positions.

In the long run, however, he said private institutions of higher learning would need to streamline their syllabus to match the demands of the local health industry.

Over the past week, The Star ran several reports highlighting the difficulty faced by nursing graduates from private institutes in finding jobs.

A government study found that over 54% of private nursing diploma graduates could not find work three to four months after graduating in 2010, compared to 21.7% in 2008.

Liow said the main factor leading to the surplus of nursing graduates was that private institutes appeared to not be in touch with the areas of expertise that were in demand.

He said the Government currently runs around 30 colleges, whose graduates are trained to meet the needs of public hospitals.

On the other hand, most of the estimated 70 private nursing colleges nationwide were providing general training and in many cases, did not meet private sector demand for specialised nurses.

“We are not looking at it as a surplus. We do need nurses, and so does the private sector because it is also expanding.

“This is mostly an issue of a mismatch between training and market demand. However, we do not control the numbers (of student intake) in private colleges.

“This is something we will have to work out with the Higher Education Ministry, and hopefully all of this (syllabus and market demand) will be streamlined,” he said.

Liow did not give a deadline for the committee to find a solution, saying that it had only just been formed and held its first meeting recently.

Nasal Carriage of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Is Associated with Higher All-Cause Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients.

1. Chun-Fu Lai*, 
 
2. Chun-Hsing Liao*^†, 
 
3. Mei-Fen Pai*^†, 
 
4. Fang-Yeh Chu^‡,
 
5. Shih-Ping Hsu*^†, 
6. Hung-Yuan Chen*^†, 
 
7. Ju-Yeh Yang*^†, 
 
8. Yen-Ling Chiu*^†,
 
9. Yu-Sen Peng*^†, 
10. Shan-Chwen Chang*, 
 
11. Kuan-Yu Hung*, 
 
12. Tun-Jun Tsai*,
 
13. Kwan-Dun Wu*

Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology Jan 2011

Abstract

Background and objectives Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) nasal carriage is a recognized risk factor for subsequent endogenous infections. However, the association between MRSA carriage and patient survival in hemodialysis patients has not been established.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements In March 2007, this prospective cohort study enrolled 306 outpatients under maintenance hemodialysis from a hospital-based dialysis center in Taiwan. They received two consecutive weekly nasal swab cultures at the beginning of the study. Patients having at least one positive culture of MRSA were defined as MRSA carriers. Subjects were followed up until December 31, 2008. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Main secondary outcomes were infection-related mortality and morbidity.

Results We identified 29 MRSA carriers (9.48%) at study entry. After a median of 613 days of follow-up, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significant survival differences between MRSA carriers and noncarriers (log-rank P = 0.02). Compared with noncarriers, MRSA carriers had a 2.46-fold increased risk of dying from any cause, after adjusting for covariates at the start of follow-up. The adjusted hazard ratios of infection-related mortality and occurrence of subsequent S. aureusinfection in carriers were 4.99 and 4.31, respectively.

Conclusions A major limitation is the relatively small sample size of MRSA carriers. Nevertheless, we demonstrated that there may be an association between MRSA nasal carriage and poor clinical outcomes in an outpatient hemodialysis population. This underscores the need for routine surveillance of MRSA nasal carriage and should alert the physicians of a group at high risk of morbidity and mortality.

Read full tex here

Prevalence of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization among patients at time of admission to the hospital.

Bodh R Panhotra

Dept of Infection Control, King Fahad Hospital, Al Hoful, Al Hasa, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: BACKGROUND : Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important agent of hospital-acquired infection. The mode of entry of MRSA in the hospital might be on admission of patients with MRSA infection or nasal colonization. The present study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of MRSA nasal colonization among patients on admission to hospital. METHODS : Six hundred patients were screened for nasal colonization of MRSA on admission to hospital. Nasal swabs were cultured on salt mannitol agar and blood agar. Age, sex, previous admission to hospital and antibiotic therapy were recorded. RESULTS : S. aureus was isolated from the nasal swabs of 122 patients (20.2%) on admission to hospital. MRSA was isolated from 7 patients (1.1%) and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) from 115 patients (19.1%). Nasal colonization of S. aureus was higher in younger and elderly patients and significantly higher colonization was observed among females. The MRSA strains isolated from nasal swabs had a different antibiotic susceptibility pattern than those isolated from patients having hospital-acquired MRSA infection. Previous admissions to hospital, underlying disease antibiotic therapy were not risk factors for MRSA nasal colonization. CONCLUSION: MRSA nasal colonization of patients on admission to hospital is low in this region. The screening of every new admission would not be cost effective, but patients transferred form other institutions should be screened for MRSA. Standard infection control precautions should be strictly implemented to prevent the spread and control of MRSA infections. Read full text here

Wishing All

Chinese Sisters and Brothers

A

Very Happy and Prosperous 

Chinese New Year

Best Wishes and Waramest Regards

MalaysianKidneySPA

Cleaning and Disinfection in a Hemodialysis Setting 

by John Micheal Weir, BBA, CHESP, REH

http://johnmichaelweir.com/tag/mrsa/

The process of physical cleaning of environmental surfaces using detergent (soap), water, and friction is the critical step required prior to surface disinfection. The combination of the cleaning and disinfection processes is designed to remove and kill vegetative microorganisms on surfaces. Disinfection will not be effective in the presence of dirt, blood, or other bio burden. The  goal of the cleaning step is to remove bio burden and with it, the majority of pathogens. Disinfection is designed to be a synergistic and somewhat redundant step to ensure comprehensive removal/kill of pathogens on surfaces.

The CDC’s Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities, 2008, states that, “noncritical surfaces (e.g., dialysis bed or chair, countertops, external surfaces of dialysis machines) should be disinfected with an EPA-registered disinfectant unless the item is visibly contaminated with blood. In that case, an EPA registered tuberculocidal agent with specific label claims for HBV and HIV should be used.”1 the commonly used disinfectant for blood contaminated environmental surfaces is a 1:100 dilution of bleach (500–600 parts per million [ppm] free chlorine).

Read full text here

Revisitng Methicillin-Resistant Staphyloccus Aureas (MRSA) infections Abdelkarim Waness Division of Internal Medicine, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Dept of Medicine, Code #1443 PO Box11465 Saudi Arabia Abstract Within less than 50 years, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) made a tremendous impact worldwide. It is not limited to medical facilities and healthcare institutions anymore. Indeed since two decades, cases of MRSA infections arising from the community among apparently healthy individuals are increasing. In this paper, I will present a case of community-associated MRSA sepsis followed by a comprehensive review about the history, pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical presentations, diagnostic modalities, therapeutic options, contributing factors, growing cost and other pertinent elements of this newly evolving epidemic of MRSA infections. MUST READ - full text here

The Challenge of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus 

Prevention in Hemodialysis Therapy.

Parker MG, Doebbeling BN.

Source

Division of Nephrology and Transplantation, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine VA HSR&D Center on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice, Indianapolis VAMC, Indianapolis, Indiana Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, Indianapolis, Indiana Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Semin Dial. 2011 Dec 9. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-139X.2011.00999.x. [Epub ahead of print]

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have challenged care process and resource utilization in the acute hospital care setting for nearly 30 years. These infections have become important causes of morbidity, mortality, and a source of concern in the primary and emergency care context over the past decade. 

As individuals receiving recurrent therapy with features of both ambulatory care and acute care, hemodialysis patients are exposed to numerous opportunities for MRSA acquisition. Surprisingly, high prevalence rates for MRSA colonization have been demonstrated for both hemodialysis patients and their care providers. 

The necessity of vascular access and the persistent high prevalence of endovascular catheter use among patients repeatedly exposed to healthcare settings provide the perfect milieu for the troubling rates of MRSA infection, particularly bloodstream infections, in outpatient dialysis care. Dialysis industry shifts, including increased requirements for compliance and reporting in other areas of dialysis care, tax resources for infection prevention processes. 

Multifaceted strategies that include reassessment of vascular access care, attention to the interruption of MRSA transmission dynamics, and emphasis on organizational learning processes are needed to accomplish a meaningful reduction in the morbidity, mortality, and cost associated with MRSA infections in dialysis care.