Successful eradication of MRSA
MRSA is a major concern in the Health Service. Appalling hygiene standards are principally to blame.
At Tupwood Gate Nursing Home, where good traditional standards of nursing care are still applied, they report total success in eradicating MRSA. Below is an article that appeared in the Caring Times in June 2005.
The matron/manager of Tupwood Gate, a 35-bed nursing home in Caterham, Surrey , is an enthusiastic advocate of the use of tea tree oil to eradicate infections caused by MRSA.
Jenny Roach told Caring Times she has devised a strategy for dealing with MRSA which she has used for the past four years with a 100 per cent success rate.
"Poor hygiene" standards are principally to blame for MRSA infections, but at Tupwood Gate we still apply good traditional standards of nursing care and we have had total success in eradicating MRSA" said Ms Roach.
"The residents who are MRSA positive come to us from hospitals. In the early days of MRSA we refused admission untilt he client was clear, but today it is so rife that we cannot do this."
Tupwood Gate's MRSA regime is as follows:
- Pre-admission screening of all hospital patients' wounds
- Implementation of rigorous infection control policies, and barrier nursing
- Relatives made aware of the home's policy for the treatment of MRSA and asked to adhere to infection control policies and procedures, which include isolation
- Regular screening of affected areas, ie. wounds, nose grains, axilla
- Tea tree oil is used in wound cleansing and is added to the primary dressing
- Tea tree preparations used: soap, shampoo, oil added to bath water, washing water and body cream which is applied twice-daily. An electric aromatherapy oil burner is used in the room
- Bachtroban nasal ointment is used if the nasal cavity is found to be positive
- The rooms are thoroughly cleaned, curtains laundered and carpet shampooed with our own industrial shampooer.
Ms Roach said the average length of time taken to clear a wound of MRSA was six weeks with some larger wounds taking longer.
"As far as I am aware there is no conclusive research which supports the use of tea tree oil, but I have used this regime for several years," she said. "It works - no fuss - no reams of paperwork, no army of experts."
