Within Clinical settings the prevalence of nosocomial Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections is rising which is placing more patients at risk of acquiring an infection and placing more strain on the health care system, as patients receiving these infections are occupying hospital beds for extended periods of time (Chaberny et al 2008, p 526). With this knowledge, the author has identified that there is a lacking of screening measures that, if implemented, may help to reduce patients being exposed to nosocomial infections whilst in the clinical setting. Therefore, the question the author has developed asks “Does MRSA screening on admission, reduce the risk of other patients in acquiring a nosocomial infection within
Based in a large 1200 bed teaching hospital, between January 2005 and April 2007, 13 952 patients were screened on admission within the nasal carriage and every forth day thereafter. Swabs were inoculated directly onto chromogenic culture media (this is the gold standard test for MRSA detection and identification (Cherkaoui et al 2007, p 500)), rapid results were reported immediately on completion of the test whilst awaiting the culture result.

Culture plates were then examined after eighteen hours of incubation (standard procedure (Merck manual 2011)). Results showed that the introduction of MRSA screening using rapid testing had significantly reduced MRSA transmission on wards that had limited isolation rooms.

In order for health care workers to adopt their findings from an article, a critical review of the article is necessary (Hammersley 2008, p 748). Health care workers need to assess the reliability of the article through asking and answering questions which will identify the overall strengths and weaknesses of the studied research (Morris 2010, p 124; Glasziou, Del Mar & Salisbury 2007). In order for this to happen questions will be adapted from Glasziou, Del Mar & Salisbury (2007) and utilized to deduce the strengths and weaknesses from the three articles researched.

The article by Wernitz et al (2005), aims at identifying the effectiveness of hospital wide screening on admission in an attempt to curb MRSA