Skilled care providers in two states are banding together with their hospital brethren to take a simple approach to better addressing superbugs that have been resistant to antibiotics.
Washing residents with a special soap is the key ingredient to this new partnership in Illinois and California, fueled by $8 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 50 healthcare facilities are taking part, driven by the notion that superbugs do not remain isolated to a hospital or nursing facility and are often carried between the two sides, Kaiser Health News reported Tuesday.
“No healthcare facility is an island,” said John Jernigan, M.D., director of the CDC’s Office of HAI Prevention Research and Evolution. “We all are in this complicated network.”
Researchers estimate that up to 65% of nursing home residents harbor drug-resistant organisms, some of which have lead to death. Common bacteria can include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, sometimes called “nightmare bacteria.” Researchers in Chicago and Southern California taking part in the pilot have aimed to address these diseases by screening residents for CRE and using the antimicrobial soap chlorhexidine, which is sold over the counter and is less common in nursing homes. They have also promoted handwashing and bolstered communication with the hospital.
Experts in the California collaborative, which is set to conclude in May, have seen some progress, with a 25% decline in drug-resistant organisms in nursing home residents. Results are still pending in the Chicago effort, which concludes in September. Organizers have also seen a ripple effect into other facilities that are not participating, KHN reported.
