Don’t Knock the Nose

Our senses play a vital role in experiencing the world around us. And beyond the whiff of what’s for dinner or faint fragrance that instantly takes you back to that high school bonfire, researchers are now paying even closer attention to the nose as they try to unlock new ways to fight pathogens.

“Patients are not aware that 30 percent of the population is colonized with staph aureus which is a gram positive bacteria very commonly found in a patient’s nose,” says Rosie D. Lyles, MD, director of clinical affairs, Medline. “However, research points to Staph aureus as the most common pathogen to cause two prevalent healthcare-associated infections: SSIs and ventilator associated pneumonia.”

Medline recently unveiled its Ready.Set.Care. kit, part of Medline’s perioperative ERASE SSI solution. This kit includes nasal swabs pre-saturated with povidone iodine and a Chlorhexidine gluconate oral rinse.

If you’re a clinician seeking effective alternatives to preventing HAIs at a time when multi-drug resistant organisms are on the rise, check out this video from “The Pulse.”