What with MRSA infections in hospitals,do you think we should bring Matrons back ? I definitely do.When I was nursing we used to be terrified of the Matrons "Inspection Round" Everything had to be spick and span.She used to walk down the ward with the sister,then staff nurse,plus any doctors trailing behind.She would run her finger along the windowsills,and if there was any dirt on her finger she used to put the finger under the Ward Sisters nose,and say "What is that ?" Get it removed immediately.With contract cleaners now in hospitals they just seem to want to get them cleaned as quick as possible.Bring back the Matrons ,I say ! Any nurses out there remember Matron ?

What else did the matron do that the ward sisters don't?

Originally posted by pattricia
What with MRSA infections in hospitals,do you think we should bring Matrons back ? I definitely do.When I was nursing we used to be terrified of the Matrons "Inspection Round" Everything had to be spick and span.She used to walk down the ward with the sister,then staff nurse,plus any doctors trailing behind.She would run her finger along the windowsills,and if there was any dirt on her finger she used to put the finger under the Ward Sisters nose,and say "What is that ?" Get it removed immediately.With contract cleaners now in hospitals they just seem to want to get them cleaned as quick as possible.Bring back the Matrons ,I say ! Any nurses out there remember Matron ?
I think you have answered your own question,very few people these days would put up with that kind of discipline.The matron would spend most of her time in court defending herself for harassment,intimidation,threatening behaviour etc.

Is the term "Matron" discriminatory towards male nurses (like me)?

Yes it is chillicat!
No matrons should not be brought back - but they have - sorry - it's happened.

The spread MRSA is not wholly as a result of dusty wards.

And an army of matrons would not have prevented it happening.

Sorry.
It's here to stay.

Maybe they should pay the nurses a decent wage instead of looking over their shoulders for dust.

it's discusting what care givers are paid.

Originally posted by poppins
Maybe they should pay the nurses a decent wage instead of looking over their shoulders for dust.

it's discusting what care givers are paid.
Here we go again nurses,nurses, nurses,you sound like a politician.What about all the ancilliary staff who are on the lowest grades and without whom all hospitals would not be able to function?

I thought "Matrons" still existed, but had been renamed "Nurse Managers"....I maybe wrong, though.

One of the characters in Holby City is in a post which has the word "Matron" in its title!

I thought that the increase in illnesses such as MRSA was due to :

1. Increased resistance in bacteria to more and more antibiotics, partially caused by inadequate control of use of antibiotics (e.g. people not completing courses of drugs, use of drugs in factory farming, etc.)

2. Failure in infection control mechanisms - e.g. not washing hands after examining every patient, visitors moving between patients without washing, etc.

3. Dirtier wards and surroundings - on visiting people in hospital even a few years back I was surprised how filthy some places are.

Don - dust doesn't spread MRSA but dust is a good indicator of dirt that may be 'clinical' If you've properly cleaned every surface, then there won't be a layer of dust. If you've got a layer of dust, you've not cleaned every surface. So, what else, apart form dust, hasn't been cleaned up?

It's not just a Matron's job - call the job what you will - it's the responsibility of the nurses, ancilliary staff, administrators AND you and I, as visitors or patients.

When my mother was in hospital, I actually took responsibility for keeping her surroundings as clean as possible.

Again - we all need to take SOME responsibility for these things! Even in small ways like finishing courses of meds, not demanding anti-biotics for everything that ails you, etc.

Joe

I agree Joe, but MRSA is carried by people without their knowledge and without them showing symptoms.

Any one of us on here today may be a carrier.

Now when we go into a hospital as visitors, sit on the beds, use patients toilets on the sly instead of looking for visitors ones, bring unwashed fruit in that hundreds of other people have handled, etc...

My point is, visitors are as much to blame as nurses cleaners Doctors and Matrons in its spread.

In my experience nearly every elderly person brought to hospital from a care home has MRSA.

They are symptom free (mostly) untill swabs are taken from nose, throat, axilla, groin, perineum, stoma, wounds, pressure sores etc.

Then it is grown in the labs, results ready AFTER the patient has been on the ward for 3 days not isolated & using the same facilities as everyone else.

matrons are already working back in hospitals here and elsewhere else.

I personally think that they have been employed

1. as cheap senior nurses, who will take on responsibilities of the former directors of nursing did, but at a lower grade. ie paid less!!!!

2. as a PR exercise for the public and press

I was a ward manager, and it was my responsibility to ensure good practice was adhered to on my ward and NOT the matron.

if you go to the northern you will see them in blue spotted uniforms.


crowefan:confused:

The basic problems with our hospitals, especially in the context of hygiene, has been privatisation.

The evidence is just overwhelming and the corrolation between privatisation, and the corrosponding rocketing in bugs is abudantly clear.

What we need to do is take back the cleaning/catering services into the NHS and the problem will be solved.

Wolfman.

p.s. I'm not a socialist, nor a capitalist, rather I believe in pragmatism :-)

I dont know about elderly people coming in from nursing homes to hospital and having mrsa. My mother came out of hospital with MRSA and into a nursing home.The nursing home got rid of it.

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
I agree Joe, but MRSA is carried by people without their knowledge and without them showing symptoms.

Any one of us on here today may be a carrier.

Now when we go into a hospital as visitors, sit on the beds, use patients toilets on the sly instead of looking for visitors ones, bring unwashed fruit in that hundreds of other people have handled, etc...

My point is, visitors are as much to blame as nurses cleaners Doctors and Matrons in its spread.

In my experience nearly every elderly person brought to hospital from a care home has MRSA.

They are symptom free (mostly) untill swabs are taken from nose, throat, axilla, groin, perineum, stoma, wounds, pressure sores etc.

Then it is grown in the labs, results ready AFTER the patient has been on the ward for 3 days not isolated & using the same facilities as everyone else.

Exactly what I mean - we all have a small jungle on our skin!

That's why we have to take some care and responsibility.

That's why the cleanliness in the hospitals has to be the first port of call - even if we bring things in the cleanliness in the hospital must be such to provide a means of clobbering as many of the bugs as possible.

Joe