Superbugs: In a Nutshell (Nursing)

00:01 Okay, let's wrap up superbugs, okay? They are bacteria that we used to be able to treat with certain antibiotics and now they're resistant to them.

00:10 So, it's becoming a huge problem in our healthcare system.

00:13 Because of resistance, fewer medications are effective in getting rid of these bugs and these infections.

00:20 So, C. diff is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea.

00:26 I know that sounds like a weird word, but nosocomial means they develop that in the hospital.

00:32 We brought them in to make them better and -- wooh, look what we gave them? Diarrhea.

00:36 So, you treat it by stopping the antibiotic that probably caused the C. diff, if they're still on it, and start these other options for the patient.

00:45 So we'll look at vancomycin or metronidazole.

00:48 MRSA, the most severe cases are the complicated skin and soft tissue infections that will tend to be the people that are in the hospital.

00:56 Community acquired is less complicated, but can still lead to necrotizing fasciitis and death.

01:04 You look at the meds that we have there, vancomycin, linezolid, daptomycin, you've got the others listed there.

01:10 It's worth your time to become very familiar with the medications that can treat these superbugs, and MRSA is no exception.

01:19 VRE, it's normally in our GI tract and female genital tract, but it can cause infections throughout the body and wreak a lot of havoc. And once it does that, it's very difficult to keep that under control.

01:32 We've listed the medications for you there and you even got some notes on which ones you're going to follow up on after you're done watching the videos.

01:39 Finally, microbial stewardship is all about how we, as an entire healthcare team: physicians, nursing assistants, nurses, RNs, LPNs, physical assistants, all the people that work together to care for our patients, have to be smart and wise about the way that we prescribe medications, the way we administer them, the way we monitor our patients, and the way we handle isolation and contact precautions in our care.

02:10 Thank you for watching our video today.