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Category Archives: ERs

March 26, 2009

MRSA research at Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America meeting

As promised, a round-up of some of the research presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), held last weekend in San Diego. (Disclosure: I was on the faculty for the meeting; in exchange for co-hosting a session, SHEA will be reimbursing me for airfare and hotel. I wasn’t [...]

Written by Maryn McKenna

Also posted in MRSA, SHEA, colonization, hand hygiene, hospitals, infection control, invasive, nosocomial

December 9, 2008

More on MRSA pneumonia, flu and ER delays

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Folks, yesterday I posted the very sad story of 39-year-old Robert Sweitzer of Tucson, who died of MRSA pneumonia after being triaged to an 8-hour wait, in an overcrowded emergency room, during the height of flu season. As a follow-up, I want to emphasize that while necrotizing pneumonia may seem an unusual circumstance, there is one [...]

Written by Maryn McKenna

Also posted in MRSA, flu, health policy, hospitals, influenza, pneumonia, seasonal flu

December 8, 2008

It’s flu season: Watch for MRSA pneumonia.

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Via the (Tucson) Arizona Daily Star, I’ve just caught up with the very sad story of Robert Sweitzer, a Tucson resident who died on his 39th birthday, of MRSA pneumonia. Sweitzer died last Feb.10, but his name is in the news now because a lawsuit filed by his wife Rachel against the hospital where he died [...]

Written by Maryn McKenna

Also posted in community, death, hospitals, influenza, medical errors, seasonal flu

September 5, 2008

Emergency medicine in crisis (important for MRSA also)

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Constant readers may remember that, before I began this MRSA project, I spent a year as a media fellow with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, researching overcrowding and stress in emergency rooms. (Some stories from that project here, here and here.) So I was particularly interested in and saddened by a post on the excellent [...]

Written by Maryn McKenna

Also posted in hospitals, invasive, medical errors

February 27, 2008

New MRSA article in Annals of Emergency Medicine

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Well, that was fast: Here’s a second article out of the book research, in the News & Perspectives section of the medical journal Annals of Emergency Medicine, where I am a “special contributor.” Brief synopsis: Emergency rooms are early-warning sites for detection of community-associated MRSA. Alert personnel there see the bug in all its manifestations, [...]

Written by Maryn McKenna

Also posted in MRSA, New Orleans, community