Infection control and meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in nursing homes in Oslo

Healthcare workers (HCWs) might be important in reducing healthcare-associated infections but infected or colonised HCWs may still spread pathogenic microbes to others. Norwegian policies for infection control in healthcare environments emphasise infection control programmes for both patients and HCWs. In this study, HCWs from 42 of 55 nursing homes in Oslo participated in an investigation concerning the implementation of infection control programmes during 2006-2007. Three separate questionnaires were used: the first aimed at nursing staff (enrolled nurses and assisting staff); the second for ward sisters; and the third for institution managers. Nearly 70% of the nursing homes had policies for controlling infection and transmission of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). About 60% of the institutions had policies for tracing MRSA infections. Four of five ward sisters tested patients for MRSA when wounds were not healing, when admitted from hospitals overseas, when patients shared a room with an MRSA-infected patient, or if patients had ever been MRSA positive. Two of five sisters would test patients with chronic urinary tract infection or patients admitted from another hospital. Among nursing staff, one out of five had cared for MRSA-positive patients. Only 4% of the staff had worked in healthcare institutions abroad, and only a few of them had been tested for MRSA. Almost 20% of the responding nursing staff worked at several institutions at the same time.