MRSA Rates

Public Reporting of MRSA

Norfolk General Hospital takes your care and safety very seriously.  We are committed to transparency. On a monthly basis beginning December 2008, we will be reporting our MRSA bloodstream infection (bacteraemia) rates on our website.

What Does this Data Represent

MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphyococcus aureus.  Staphylococcus aureus is a germ that lives on the skin and mucous membranes of healthy people.  Some people have a type of S.aureus that is resistant to simple treatments like methicillin.  This means an infection with this bug would be more difficult to treat.  At this time the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care requires hospital to report rates of MRSA blood stream infection.  The numbers shown here only represent the number of people with MRSA that has caused infection in their blood.  These numbers do not include the number of people in the hospital who have MRSA living on their body that is not causing them harm.

MRSA Bloodstream Infection (Bacteraemia) Rate:

The MRSA Bloodstream infection rate is calculated as a rate per 1000 patient days.  The total "patient days" represents the sum of the number of days which services were provided to all inpatients during the given time period.

The rate is calculated as follows:

Number of nosocomial patients with laboratory identification of MRSA bacteraemia at NGH  X 1000
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 Total number of patient days for one month 

Rates may vary month to month; the smaller the facility; the greater the rates will vary.  This is because a change in even one case in a small facility will cause the rate to go up or down considerably.