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The INSTITUTE FOR ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY MRSA Surgical Wound Prevention Program Patient Education

Your doctor has requested that you be screened for a "bacteria" (bacterium) called Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). This bacterium is becoming more and more common in people in the community. As the name says it is resistant to many antibiotics. You may carry this bacterium in your body and have no symptoms. However, if the dormant bacterium progresses to an "infection", it may present itself as a skin infection, boil or rash, or even as a severe case of pneumonia. The importance of screening for this bacterium is because if it is left undetected and untreated, MRSA can also cause a very serious surgical wound infection. MRSA infections are very difficult to treat, and can result in delayed wound healing, possibly the need for additional surgery, and long-term antibiotic therapy. That is why it is important to screen you for MRSA far enough in advance of your surgery, so that if you carry MRSA you can be treated right before your surgery to reduce the chance of post-operative surgical wound infection.

In order to screen for MRSA, the Pre-Admission Testing Nurse will need to swab inside your nose and your rectum. If you have an ostomy, the nurse will swab the opening of the ostomy instead of the rectum. At IOS, this will be done at the time of your pre-operative testing after your EKG is done or at the time you attend Joint Clinic. If you are getting your pre-admission testing done elsewhere, it will be done at that time. The culture swabs will be sent to the lab to determine if you are a carrier of MRSA. If they come back positive or you are considered to be "high-risk" for MRSA, you will be notified to get special medication and cleansing soap to be used 24 hours before your surgery. If the tests come back negative, no additional treatment will be necessary.