Improving patient prioritization during hospital-homecare transition: A pilot study of a clinical decision support tool.

Patient admission to homecare is a complex process. Medicare policy requires that all patients receive a first home visit within 48 hr after the referral is received at the homecare agency. For unstable or high risk patients, waiting 48 hr to be seen by homecare nurses may not be safe.

Panton valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin positive MRSA strains isolated from companion animals.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a highly pathogenic multiple-drug resistant (MDR) microorganism that has recently become more prevalent in the community. It has been found that MRSA strains can also contain genes that encode the panton valentine leukocidin toxin (PVL). The PVL toxin has been shown to be responsible for many of the severe clinical symptoms of infection with MRSA, such as furunculosis, severe necrotizing pneumonia, and necrotic lesions of the skin and soft tissues.