Fresh approaches stem MRSA tide.

Abstract

The theory of positive deviance holds that in any group, some people are more effective than others even when they have the same resources at hand. The object is to identify those people, see what they're doing differently and share it with the larger group. The Plexus Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently collaborated on a six-hospital positive-deviance study that reduced methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection rates by 70 percent. What these hospitals learned may help others cut their MRSA rates.