Editor—The spread of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been wholly apportioned by the mass media to poor handwashing techniques by doctors and nurses.1 Although handwashing techniques must be improved, other quite blatant modes of transmission are swept aside.
Every healthcare professional will be aware of the prevalence of MRSA in the community, yet the media never consider that the relatives and friends of patients may well be an important factor in the spread of MRSA in the hospital setting. However, after observing phlebotomists at work I have come to realise a far more obvious mode of transmission—the tourniquet.
No junior doctor would be without phlebotomists, who make the busy house officer's working life so much easier. They graciously attend all the wards in the hospital and thanklessly take blood. In doing this however, they may well be giving MRSA the helping hand it needs. The same tourniquet is used on all the patients on all the wards throughout the hospital, no doubt ensuring a spread of MRSA throughout. To overcome this risk of transmission the tourniquet must be disposed of after each use.
During my training I was always taught not to use a glove as a tourniquet for fear of leaving it on the patient. However, the glove does provide a cheap, easily accessible, and, most importantly, disposable tourniquet that may well help cut down the transmission rates of MRSA in hospitals.
Although this seems quite a simple idea, I believe simple techniques will help reduce transmission rates of MRSA nationwide.
Competing interests: None declared.
References
- 1.Wilson P. The tabloid fixation on superbugs. BMJ 2004;329: 578. (4 September.) [Google Scholar]