Im a nurse who did CPR on a MRSA with mrsa in the lungs (airborne mrsa docs and nurses help!!!?

Question

I had a patient who died of mrsa today.He stopped breathing and we couldnt bag him with a mouth piece fast enough.After three minutes I knew he was dying... I cupped my hand four inches away from his mouth and breathed once without ever coming in contact with sputum or saliva to save his life. Lookig back I realized how stupid it was but what is done is done.I have been taking care of this patient for 10 days who had mrsa in his lungs.He basically died of complications of mrsa and a previous stroke.What can i do to protect myself at this point? what are the odds of my getting sick or worse?

Answer 1

Lucky for you, MRSA is not spread by airborne, mostly by skin-to-skin exposure.  You should be fine.  If you do develop respiratory symptoms then see a doc and tell them your experience, a lot of the morbidity and mortality associated with MRSA infections are caused by delayed treatment (by not thinking about MRSA), so in the extreme case you do develop an infection it will be treated appropriately.

As a footnote, some hospitals will use masks when seeing MRSA patients, which makes people think it is an airborne bug.  The real reason is that mask prevent people from putting their gloved hands around their nose, thereby preventing them from getting themselves colonized with the bug.

You've done nothing wrong in this scenario, and I commend you for your actions.

Answer 2

contact your Risk Management department.  using a BVM & other PPE reduces the risk of any infection.