Clinical quality measures and the incidence rate of invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (IMRSA) in tidewater Virginia

In recent years, patient safety in health care organizations (HCOs) began to focus on improving hospital staff performance because evidence-based medicine shows inpatients are susceptible to infectious diseases. An infectious disease known to occur in hospitals is health care--associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or HA-MRSA. Between 2007 and 2008, an increase in the incidence of MRSA (N = 307) was identified in Virginia, with 180 (58.63%) in male patients and 126 (41.04%) in female patients. Several deaths of healthy adults and children with no risk factors were linked to community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA. This correlational research study questioned if there was a relationship between the compliance of staff performance measures, the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) and Pneumonia (PN) protocols, and the prevalence of invasive MRSA (IMRSA) in Tidewater Virginia. Data was provided by the Virginia Department of Public Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on 21,958 SCIP and 11,852 PN inpatient participants among 16 hospitals. The findings showed a significant relationship between PN Protocol 4 (pneumonia patients are given the most appropriate initial antibiotic) and IMRSA. Although, correlational studies cannot assume a causal relationship, more emphasis on clinical quality measures and staff compliance are needed. This research suggests two practice recommendations for hospitals to reduce the incidence rate of IMRSA: training staff on clinical quality performance measures, and conducting clinical trial research within HCOs.