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Reductions in Workload and Reporting Time by Use of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Screening with MRSASelect Medium Compared to Mannitol-Salt Medium Supplemented with Oxacillin

Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada,¹ Clinical Microbiology, Saint-Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada,² Diagnostic Services of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada³

Received 21 June 2007/ Returned for modification 16 August 2007/ Accepted 22 January 2008

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a significant pathogen in both nosocomial and community settings, and screening for carriers is an important infection control practice in many hospitals. In this retrospective study, we demonstrate that the implementation of an MRSA screening protocol using a selective chromogenic medium (MRSASelect) reduced the workload for this screening test by 63.7% overall and by 12.6% per specimen and reduced the turnaround time for reporting by an average of 1.33 days for all MRSA screening specimens, 1.97 days for MRSA-positive specimens, and 1.3 days for MRSA-negative specimens compared to standard mannitol-salt agar supplemented with 6 mg of oxacillin/liter.

Published ahead of print on 30 January 2008.