Reduction of the Duration of Contact Precautions in Patients with a Positive MRSA Swab

Background Contact precautions (CP) in hospitals are a method of infection control in the transmission of multi-drug resistant organisms. Unfortunately, even though colonization with nasal methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is common in asymptomatic patients (3.8-4.5%) (6,7), patients are screened for nasal MRSA since it associated with higher morbidity and mortality. However, those who test positive for nasal MRSA are kept on CP even with a cleared MRSA infection(1). At TJUH, patients were kept on CP for 24 months after a positive swab regardless of location. This, unfortunately, led to unintended negative consequences: delay in patient transfer to other facilities (e. g. rehabilitation) (3), lower patient satisfaction (4), decreased health care provider time with patients (5), and increased health care expenditures.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1102/thumbnail.jp

Developing a Neurosurgical Spine Post-Operative Note Template on EPIC for Improved Multi-Disciplinary Care

Introduction The care of neurosurgical spine patients often involves a multi-disciplinary team, including neurosurgery residents, hospitalists, nursing staff, and physical/occupational therapists. Oftentimes, post-op spine patients are on a non-neurosurgical service (hospitalist, MICU/SICU, medicine), who are provided with scant sign out on the procedure(s) performed. The treatment team(s) that are helping manage patient care post-operatively are often unaware of the procedure performed, and what are the salient clinical signs/symptoms, radiographic findings, and laboratory values that need to be closely monitoredhttps://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1113/thumbnail.jp