News
By Bethel Habte
|
September 11, 2008
The University Medical Center?s Surgical Intensive Care Unit has implemented a new antibiotic rotation method to try to ensure patients remain healthy during their hospital stays.The research team, headed by Dr. Robert Sawyer, co-director of the surgical trauma intensive care unit, looked to prevent bacterial staph infections common in hospitals ? officially known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infections ? from occurring in ICU patients.MRSA ?is, in many hospitals, the most common cause of pneumonia developed in hospitals,? Sawyer said.Sawyer?s team used ?cycling,? or switching the type of antibiotic medicine given to patients, to prevent them from contracting other illnesses caused by MRSA while they recovered.A different antibiotic would be used on patients every three months, Sawyer explained.?Other hospitals have done this with other bacteria, but we?re the first that we know of that has used it for MRSA,? Sawyer said, noting this method has proven very effective.?We have 25 to 35 new infections a year in our intensive care units,? Sawyer said.