MRSA
MRSA and Ireland’s Euro Health Consumer Index score
In 2006 the Euro Health Consumer Index put Ireland second from the bottom in a ranking of European states on the delivery of health care to its citizens. Was this a Pass mark for Ireland? Ireland subscribes to the concept of failure and applies it to its citizens in, for instance the Leaving Certificate examination now underway. What of Ireland’s health care system? How do we know if it is failing? More correctly, how do we know that Ireland has […]
MRSA Conference
The MRSA & Families Network have organised a conference entitled, âMRSA: What is it costing us?â? to be held on 19TH JUNE 2007 at the Emmett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, from 9.30 am to 4.40 pm.
MRSA and friend
Galwayâs drinking water, supposedly, has been compromised by Cryptosporidiosis. Cryptosporidiosis is a disease caused by a parasite, a Scheduled biological agent under the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations (S.I. No. 707 of 2003) and Safety, Health And Welfare At Work (Biological Agents) (Amendment) Regulations, 1998 (S.I. No. 248/1998). It shares this status with, inter alia, Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus, in its evolved form of âMethicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureusâ? is known as MRSA. The Cryptosporidiosis cases are said to be […]
MRSA: Free Public Conference at RCPI
Deirdre Donegan of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland alerts us to their upcoming public meeting on healthcare-associated infections (including MRSA). Running as part of the “Promoting a Healthy Nation” series of discussions the details from the RCPI website are; 15th FEBRUARY 2007, starting at 6.00pm in the RCPI, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin. Dr. John Bowman will chair the meeting. Speakers include Prof. Hilary Humphreys, RCSI and Consultant Microbiologist at Beaumont Hospital, Mr. Stephen McMahon, Chairman of the Irish […]
Cleanliness & Godliness
The Mater Hospital in Dublin is one of the cityâs major hospitals. It is the designated site for the new âworld classâ? childrenâs hospital [and an adult hospital adjoining]. It has apologised to a former patient who stayed in the hospital last May. It apologised for âany incidents of sub-standard hygieneâ? she may have experienced. Her experience was: a) The hospital was filthy; b) There was urine on the floor of the toilets; c) Excrement was stuck to the sides […]
Wringing and Washing of hands
The Minister for Health and Children is anxious that the Health Executive should achieve a reduction in nosocomial infections in Irish hospitals in the immediate future. The principle infection in mind (although not the most difficult) is MRSA. What’s the solution? Hand washing. (Hygiene actually). The methods of ensuring compliance with hand washing protocols will probably vary from place to place but the job is not impossible. In any event, employees of hospitals are entitled in law to safe places […]
MRSA in Ireland: Causes of the disease, who is liable and why
This article examines the facts of nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (“MRSA”?) and the applicable law. MRSA is a serious infection caused by a microorganism. We are engulfed by microorganisms. We cannot live without them. They are in the air; in the water we drink; on everything we touch; on, and in, our bodies. Most of them, clearly, are benign and not pathogenic. Pathogenic means “disease-causing”?.