Surgical Hair Removal Guidelines
Guidelines On How To Prevent Staph Infection During Hospital Stays
Guidelines on How to Prevent Infection during Hospital Stays
MRSA or methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus is a mutated form of the staphylococcus bacteria that is resistant to most forms of antibiotics. This means that even if antibiotics are used to treat the infection, there is no effect on the bacteria, allowing it to flourish. With this, infectious agents spread throughout the body resulting in life threatening illnesses such as septicemia, meningitis, pneumonia, endocarditis and osteomyelitis.
The Rules on How to Prevent Infection during Hospital Stays.
There are two possible victims in being exposed to the dreaded MRSA bacteria, you as the patient and the medical personnel. Both can even be carriers for others to be infected by cross contamination. Thus, to prevent infection from affecting you as the patient, the medical specialist overseeing your care, your visitors with their families and the other patients in the hospital, here are some guidelines to follow.
1. Respectfully request that hospital staff use antiseptic on their hands before treating you. Also ask guests and visitors to use antiseptic before leaving your room to prevent being a carrier.
2. When your doctor is about to use their stethoscope, respectfully ask that the instruments diaphragm be wiped down with antiseptic. This is to prevent on skin transfer of the bacteria through commonly used equipment. If you are too embarrassed to ask, make sure you wipe down the area where the stethoscope touched your skin to immediately neutralize the bacteria.
3. If you are to be inserted with a "central line" catheter, or any kind of catheter for that matter, inquire about the use of an antibiotic impregnated or silver chlorhexidine coated catheter to reduce and minimize infection-causing bacteria from entering the body.
4. If surgery is the reason why you are in the hospital, inquire about the infection rate of the doctor to conduct the surgery. If the doctor has a high infection rate, or refuses to disclose this fact, then seek the services of another surgeon.
5. Prepare for the surgery. This preparation can be done by showering daily with the use of 4% chlorhexidine soap. This active ingredient neutralizes the presence of MRSA bacteria on the skin to avoid entering the body with the surgery.
6. Ask your surgeon to test you for the presence of MRSA at least one week prior to surgery. This preventive measure would be a sure way to eliminate the presence of MRSA on your skin.
7. Quit smoking weeks before surgery. Studies indicate that patients who smoke are three times as likely to develop surgical area infection compared to non-smokers resulting in longer hospital stays and slower recoveries.
8. Come the day of the surgical procedure, remind your medical care personnel, be it a nurse or a doctor for antibiotic medication prior to actual incision. Often this is overlooked with all the preparation needed for the surgery.
9. Inquire from your doctor as to the process of surgery, paying special attention to the tools to be used and the temperature of the operating room due to surgery. Asking about the tools to be used would make the surgeon wary of the cleanliness of the tools and equipment. Also, keeping the room warm are found to be able to resist infection better compared to cold operating rooms.
10. Avoid having the surgical area shaved as the blade may cause small wounds where bacteria can enter. Ask that clippers be used to remove hair instead of a razor.
I hope these ten tips provide you with something to think about next time you are admitted to hospital. However small the reason for your visit, be mindful that hospital acquired infections are extremeley easy to catch and therefor you should take every precaution.
If you'd like to learn more, including other fantastic resources and information, be sure to take a look at our ebook at our website StaphInfectionResources.com
About the Author
Lisa Goldstein is a recently retired Bacteria Researcher, Nutritionist, Health Consultant, through her career she has seen thousands of patients affected by MRSA. She suffered from staph infection for many years until she was able to put her expertise to good use by trying many natural treatments until she discovered something really special...a safe & effective staph infection treatment without antibiotics. Lisa has been 100% MRSA staph infection free for the past 10 years. She is the author of the ebook Natural MRSA Infetion Treatment: Stop Your Staph Infection & Keep It From Coming Back.
