I was contacted yesterday by the manageress at a care home where I occasionally clear furniture left by deceased residents.
The manageress wants me to clear a medical Item, a sort of expensive 'lift' that gets the person from horizontal to vertical/walking position, and the bed.
She said 'There is nothing wrong with it, but we cannot re use it because the patient died of MRSA, but don't worry, you won't catch anything'

So if there is no risk, how come they cannot re use it :suspect:

Do you necessarily have to have an open wound and/or a weakened immune system to contract MRSA, or can anyone get it.
I suppose the hospital staff are all working there as normal, but WHY can't the equipment be cleaned and re used?
What would you do - am I being 'nesh':confused:

There was an article in the paper saying that rugby players (and other people in contact sports) should be carefull as it can be passed just by rubbing against someone.

I had a mental image of rugby players wrapping themselves in cling-film, but thats another story alltogether.

so I think you're right to be very cautious.

My understanding is that many people carry the germs on them (which is why it's so difficult to stamp out), but that people with weakened immune systems get sick.

I'm no doctor though, so don't take any notice of anything I say! :D

K x

Many of us are already carrying the bacteria.
You can get creams/lotions to kill it off if wanted.

As you suggested, it only becomes a problem with open wounds, weak and ill people.

It is transmitted by contact and by coughing/sneezing if the bacteria is carried in the nose or lungs.

It would be a bit difficult to totally clean every corner of the piece of furniture, without immersion, and I guess that it is a risk reduction exercise. There would be hell to pay if someone later contracted an MRSA problem and it was traced back to the equipment.
What would you do with it?

The risk to you would be no greater than a visit to a hospital ward but ask them to give you some gloves and hand sterilising lotion.

I bet they could clean the stuff with one of those steam cleaners they use for car engines, that might kill the bug ?

Originally posted by cgksheff
........What would you do with it?

It would end up at a scrap yard...... couldn't live with myself if I re sold it :(

I rang NHS direct once and he said that about 42% of the population already have it and it lives dormant in the nasel passages and in the case of reduced immunity they can give it themselves say in the case of an open wound. you could pass it on to someone else if you have it and they have low immunity for instance HIV or leukaemia. basically what has already been said.

Originally posted by Draggletail
It would end up at a scrap yard...... couldn't live with myself if I re sold it :(

And do you think it'll stay in the scrap yard Draggle? If someone's going to make some money it may as well be you! Just give it a wipe first! :D

K x

seems a bit odd that they can't clean it. Although it's quite difficult to kill it can be washed away easily like most bacteria.

Your only likely to pick it up if you have a weakened immune system and some way of it getting into your system - hence the problem on surgical wards. Many people carry staph colonies on their skin without knowing about it. Although it can be washed off logistically its quite difficult to do unless you put everyone moving into and out off the hospital and wards through a sheep dip.

BTW its not really a superbug just a bug that is well addapted for its environment i.e. the clean, high antibiotic environs that kill off most other bugs.

Originally posted by evildrneil

BTW its not really a superbug ........

Thats why I put 'quotes' around 'superbug' ;)
Thanks for your advice on the subject :)

Originally posted by Draggletail
WHY can't the equipment be cleaned and re used?
What would you do - am I being 'nesh':confused:

I would suggest that you're being miss informed and no your not being nesh but being sensible. The piece of equipment should be treated as contamined and shouldn't be handled untill they can provide you with evidence that the equipment has been deconaminated i.e. cleaned and made safe.

The equipment can be cleaned at the very least by using "Azzo Wipes" which should be readily available in the health care environment, these wipes contain alcohol to disinfect.

As working in the health care industry myself, working with medical equipment, we are not allowed to work on equipment until a decontamination form has been signed declaring that the equipment has been decontamined. If theres no decontamination certificate or the equipment looks contaminated, we refuse to handle the equipment until its been decontaminated.

It's really hard to get bugs out of the nooks and crannies in equipment, even with steam cleaning.

It's the MR part that causes the problem - Methicillin Resistant - basically it's a bug with a high resistance to certain sorts of antibiotic. Prior to the emergence of MRSA the standard Staph Aureus bug was a nuisance but could be clobbered with antibiotics.

BTW, the thing with rugby players is probably not just close proximity. In my rugby playing days 25 years ago we used to nurture our stubble for days before a match to we could grind in to the skin of the opposing scrum....nasty.

Joe

Originally posted by mega_monty
I would suggest that you're being miss informed and no your not being nesh but being sensible. The piece of equipment should be treated as contamined and shouldn't be handled untill they can provide you with evidence that the equipment has been deconaminated i.e. cleaned and made safe.

The equipment can be cleaned at the very least by using "Azzo Wipes" which should be readily available in the health care environment, these wipes contain alcohol to disinfect.

As working in the health care industry myself, working with medical equipment, we are not allowed to work on equipment until a decontamination form has been signed declaring that the equipment has been decontamined. If theres no decontamination certificate or the equipment looks contaminated, we refuse to handle the equipment until its been decontaminated.
That's top advice mega_monty - better than I hoped for. How would I go on regarding removing the bed and mattress which cannot be wiped down. Just out of interest really, 'cos having read your post I think I am going to stat clear of the job.
Thanks :thumbsup:

Originally posted by Draggletail
How would I go on regarding the bed which cannot be wiped down. Just out of interest really, 'cos having read your post I think I am going to stat clear of the job.
Thanks :thumbsup:

If its the mattress, I would have thought it should be incinerated or disposed of as clinical waste, if it's a bed frame going for scrap then I dont see any reason why it cant be wiped down or cleaned, before handling. Is it a question of the staff can't be bothered or won't clean it down? If so politely refuse to handle it.

Originally posted by mega_monty
If its the mattress, I would have thought it should be incinerated or disposed of as clinical waste, if it's a bed frame going for scrap then I dont see any reason why it cant be wiped down or cleaned, before handling. Is it a question of the staff can't be bothered to clean it down?

I believe that there are two items - the apparatus that moves the patient from horizontal to vertical and I think possibly a bed and mattress. If so it sounds like they are been very naughty because the mattress would end up at the skip yard if I was to take it (they know I am not licensed to take clinical waste)

I am staying well away from this job!!!!

Originally posted by Draggletail
it sounds like they are been very naughty
I am staying well away from this job!!!!

That was my first initial reaction upon reading your first posting, there's specialist companies dealing in disposing of obsolete medical equipment & clinical waste, sounds like someones trying to get something done on the cheap!

I would stay well away too.

does a mattress count as clinical waste, no matter how the person who died in it died?
If MRSA is as common as suggested (ie many people carrying it on themselves anyway) then it's no more risk than throwing away something that you handled yourself.

Originally posted by Cyclone
does a mattress count as clinical waste, no matter how the person who died in it died?


A mattress would only count as clinical waste if it has become contaminated in someway and cant be decontaminated for whatever reason, contamination could be caused by soiling and body fluids etc and of course MRSA. Not every matress would be classed as clinical waste, the one in this case could not be decontaminated and therefore requires disposing of in the correct manner.

Originally posted by Cyclone
If MRSA is as common as suggested (ie many people carrying it on themselves anyway) then it's no more risk than throwing away something that you handled yourself.


Yes its still at risk, maybe not directly to yourself if your fit and healthy but after handling the said matteress you came into contact with someone with a weakend immune system or open wounds theres the possibility to cross infect that person. Thats why when visiting some wards they will ask you not to sit on patients bed's and wipe your hands with antiseptic gel, because you could be carrying bugs such as MRSA.

Also if matteress was contaminated with MRSA and went back into circulation on a ward and patient with a weakend immune system or open wounds used that mattress then theres the possibility to cross infect that patient.

Originally posted by mega_monty
A mattress would only count as clinical waste if it has become contaminated in someway and cant be decontaminated for whatever reason, contamination could be caused by soiling and body fluids etc and of course MRSA. Not every matress would be classed as clinical waste, the one in this case could not be decontaminated and therefore requires disposing of in the correct manner.



Yes its still at risk, maybe not directly to yourself if your fit and healthy but after handling the said matteress you came into contact with someone with a weakend immune system or open wounds theres the possibility to cross infect that person. Thats why when visiting some wards they will ask you not to sit on patients bed's and wipe your hands with antiseptic gel, because you could be carrying bugs such as MRSA.

Also if matteress was contaminated with MRSA and went back into circulation on a ward and patient with a weakend immune system or open wounds used that mattress then theres the possibility to cross infect that patient.

but since any patient entering a hospital could be a carrier every mattress could be infected with mrsa and thus should be destroyed after being used once. Along with everything else in the hospital.... at least if you extend that argument to it's logical conclusion it should.

There probably is no risk with the furniture but I wouldnt touch it with someone elses... Its a serious problem this superbug, I cancelled some routine surgery last year mainly down to the fact that the hospital looked filthy adding to my parinoia about the bug. My grandmother was one of the first cases to die from the bug after surgery many years ago. She had a stomach operation that she was recovering from nicely, then she caught that bug in her intestine and it killed her.
More recently her elderly cousin contracted the bug in an open wound in her leg after a breif spell in the hospital, now shes lost the leg to amputation to stop the bug spreading.
I couldnt handle the furniture knowing that the bug could be lurking in some crevice waiting to be disturbed

http://textbookofbacteriology.net/staph.html

Originally posted by Cyclone
but since any patient entering a hospital could be a carrier every mattress could be infected with mrsa and thus should be destroyed after being used once. Along with everything else in the hospital.... at least if you extend that argument to it's logical conclusion it should.
That is correct,but would it be cost effective? Just think of the cost.How would you stop p2p contamination?

Originally posted by matsalleh
That is correct,but would it be cost effective? Just think of the cost.How would you stop p2p contamination?

that was my point. If pretty much anyone and anything may be a carrier, there is no point in treating anything as contaminated just because it has a higher chance than average.