title: Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization and infection in hospitalized palliative care patients with cancer.
abstract: Little is known about the pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization and infection in hospitalized palliative care (PC) patients. We reviewed 854 admissions for 289 patients with advanced cancer managed by a PC service in a tertiary care hospital. The MRSA screening was performed at least once in 228 (79%) patients, and 21 (9%) of them were MRSA positive. Other cultures were done in 251 (86.8%) patients, and 8 (3%) patients were MRSA positive. The total number of MRSA-positive admissions was 28 (3%), with a median admission duration of 8 days. A substantial proportion of hospitalized PC patients with cancer are MRSA positive. Research is required to study the impact of infection control measures on the quality of PC delivered to MRSA-positive terminally ill patients in hospitals.
authors: Palliative Care Department, King Fahad Specialist Hospital-Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
authors: Hafez M
authors: HM
authors: Ghanem
authors: Ahmad M
authors: AM
authors: Abou-Alia
authors: Samy A
authors: SA
authors: Alsirafy
mesh_terms: D015897:Comorbidity; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D015995:Prevalence; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016635:Universal Precautions / Q000379:methods