title: Investigation of an outbreak of nosocomial infection due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the surgical ward of Tokyo Metropolitan Fuchu Hospital.
abstract: Our hospital, a 756-bed non-teaching general hospital, acts as a tertiary ambulatory center and has an 89-bed surgical ward. The present study is concerned with how the presence of an infection control practitioner (ICP) affects the results of infection control. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nosocomial infections (according to the definitions of nosocomial infections) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the surgical ward were retrospectively studied in two periods: from February 1989 to June 1990 and from January 1992 to December 1994. Infection control procedures were established in November 1989 when the surgical ward was transferred to a new building. An ICP was present from November 1989 to June 1990, and from July 1993 to December 1994 and supervised infection control so that the infection control procedures were uniformly practiced by all staff in the surgical ward. After the appointment of the ICP, the infection rate per 100 admissions decreased from 3.2 to 1.2 (P < 0.05) in the first period and from 2.5 to 1.7 in the second period. After the appointment of the ICP, the infection rate per 1000 patient days decreased from 1.11 to 0.49 in the first period and from 1.00 to 0.67 in the second period. Hospital stay periods for patients with the same enterotoxin and coagulase types overlapped in 16 patients in the absence of the ICP and in 4 patients in the presence of the ICP, respectively, in the first period. The present study suggested that infection rates decreased in the presence of an ICP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Fuchu Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uetera
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumine
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Awane
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokota