HCA announced that a comprehensive new study, conducted exclusively at 43 HCA-affiliated hospitals, and the only designated Palm Beach County facility being Palms West Hospital, concluded that using antimicrobial soap and ointment on intensive care unit patients reduces bloodstream infections, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), by 44 percent.

 

The use of antimicrobial agents on an entire patient population is referred to as universal decolonization. The study, known as Randomized Evaluation of Decolonization Versus Universal Clearance to Eliminate (REDUCE) MRSA, was conducted in conjunction with investigators at Harvard and several other academic institutions, and research programs at two U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

The findings suggest a major change in healthcare practice that could save lives. HCA is rolling out universal decolonization in its adult intensive care units, and implementation is expected to be completed at virtually all HCA affiliates in early 2013.

 

Investigators found that using universal decolonization reduced the number of patients harboring MRSA by 37 percent. Patients harboring MRSA are not sick because of it, but they are at risk for later illness and for spreading it to others. All bloodstream infections decreased by 44 percent. The researchers noted that this trial took place in HCA facilities, mostly in community hospitals, rather than academic institutions and was conducted by hospital personnel rather than specially trained research staff. Therefore, unlike some clinical studies, these results are likely to be applicable to nearly all U.S. hospitals.