Another state legislature mandates MRSA screening
The House and Senate of the Washington legislature today passed HB 1123 which requires MRSA testing of high risk patients as determined by each hospital's risk assessment, and all patients admitted to ICUs (except NICUs) within 24 hours of admission. The law also mandates reporting of central line associated bloodstream infections as of July 1, 2008 , ventilator associated pneumonia as of January 1, 2009, and selected surgical site infections as of January 1, 2010. A good aspect of the bill is that it requires hospitals to report their infections via CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network.
Given the unproven benefit of MRSA screening, such legislative mandates are unfortunate. But this is the end result of the hype surrounding MRSA that has been perpetuated by a relatively small number of hospital epidemiologists, as well as the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), which fronted a series of seminars across the country sponsored by a company that makes MRSA testing kits. As I have noted in a previous posting, the role of industry in the MRSA active surveillance debate has received little scrutiny. I also think it's a failure of the hospital epidemiology community for collectively idly standing by while all of this occurred.
Given the unproven benefit of MRSA screening, such legislative mandates are unfortunate. But this is the end result of the hype surrounding MRSA that has been perpetuated by a relatively small number of hospital epidemiologists, as well as the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), which fronted a series of seminars across the country sponsored by a company that makes MRSA testing kits. As I have noted in a previous posting, the role of industry in the MRSA active surveillance debate has received little scrutiny. I also think it's a failure of the hospital epidemiology community for collectively idly standing by while all of this occurred.
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