“Bringing Down the Flag”: Removing the Contact Precautions Label for Non-hospitalized Patients with Prior Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection or Colonization

Abstract

A policy consensus has not been reached regarding discontinuing contact precautions in patients with a history of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We found that as many as 72% of outpatients flagged for past MRSA were no longer carriers, and a single nasal PCR test provided a reasonable negative predictive value for removing contact precautions.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2015;00(0): 1–3