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Sentara develops successful approach to preventing MRSA, cutting infections in half
Built in-house and used across 12 hospitals, Sentara's IT-enabled intervention is catching the attention of health systems nationwide. Below: The Sentara Northern Virginia Medical School Healthcare Acquired Infection Prevention Team, which helped develop the process.
For most people, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, does not cause problems.
But in some cases, the bacteria, which is resistant to antibiotics, can lead to serious, hard-to-manage infections and even death.
Around the country, there were nearly 324,000 cases of patients hospitalized with the infection in 2017. That same year, there were almost 11,000 deaths, and roughly $1.7 billion in related healthcare costs.
In 2019, after Sentara identified reducing hospital-acquired infections as a priority, a multi-disciplinary team came together with the goal of lowering MRSA infections across our 12 hospitals.
Given the size of Sentara’s operations, even small improvements in infection prevention have a sizable impact.
The team developed their own process using research on published literature and internal data. Then they made it a seamless, automated part of nurse workflows.
“This is an important tool because it helps nurses keep patients safe, and MRSA-free, while in the hospital,” said Dawn Byrne, a registered nurse and senior director of nursing and patient care services at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.
“Automating this process really does make it easy on the bedside nurse,” Byrne added.
Since the process was implemented at Sentara’s hospitals in 2021, it has cut MRSA infections nearly in half, leading to around $2 million saved in healthcare costs in five years.
Senior IT Specialty Analyst Jill Marciano described developing the new MRSA prevention process as a lengthy project.
“The project involved a substantial amount of planning, coordination and recurring stakeholder discussions,” Marciano said.
To identify high-risk patients, the team built a model that assigns patients an automated “risk score” for MRSA, said Marciano. Factors include recent hospitalization, conditions like diabetes, and transfer from high-risk settings like intensive care units.
If the risk score meets a threshold, nurses are alerted to order preventative measures, such as daily iodine nasal swabs or bathing with a powerful, broad-spectrum antiseptic. Nurses meet daily to discuss high-risk cases.
“It was a success from the beginning,” Marciano said of the process.
The team built the risk score into the electronic health record Epic, which recently highlighted the achievement.
With the new process in place, Sentara’s MRSA cases fell from 53 cases in 2022 to 29 cases in 2023. That trend has held, with 28 cases in 2025.
“Any time you prevent an infection, that’s huge,” said Tracey Odachowski, system director of infection prevention and control, another member of the team.
Sentara has continued to refine the tool while clinicians ensure MRSA prevention remains a routine part of care. Nurses also educate patients about MRSA to encourage compliance.
Other health systems have expressed interest in learning from Sentara’s approach.
“Other health systems have reached out,” said Odachowski. “We have shared how we built the tool so they can build one as well.”
The MRSA strain that is resistant to common antibiotics can require prolonged hospital stays and intensive treatment, including quarantine.
“MRSA is out there and the problem is it has mutated, so it is not easy to treat if someone gets an infection,” said Odachowski. "When it gets to the blood, it gets particularly harder to treat.”
MRSA infections are a widely recognized issue in healthcare, said Rollin Reeder, M.D., chief health information officer.
“Taking proactive measures like these to reduce MRSA infections has had a real impact on patient outcomes,” said Dr. Reeder. "It has been amazing to see this IT-enabled intervention translate into lives saved."
But in some cases, the bacteria, which is resistant to antibiotics, can lead to serious, hard-to-manage infections and even death.
Around the country, there were nearly 324,000 cases of patients hospitalized with the infection in 2017. That same year, there were almost 11,000 deaths, and roughly $1.7 billion in related healthcare costs.
In 2019, after Sentara identified reducing hospital-acquired infections as a priority, a multi-disciplinary team came together with the goal of lowering MRSA infections across our 12 hospitals.
Given the size of Sentara’s operations, even small improvements in infection prevention have a sizable impact.
The team developed their own process using research on published literature and internal data. Then they made it a seamless, automated part of nurse workflows.
“This is an important tool because it helps nurses keep patients safe, and MRSA-free, while in the hospital,” said Dawn Byrne, a registered nurse and senior director of nursing and patient care services at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.
“Automating this process really does make it easy on the bedside nurse,” Byrne added.
Since the process was implemented at Sentara’s hospitals in 2021, it has cut MRSA infections nearly in half, leading to around $2 million saved in healthcare costs in five years.
Building a risk scoring system for MRSA
Senior IT Specialty Analyst Jill Marciano described developing the new MRSA prevention process as a lengthy project.
“The project involved a substantial amount of planning, coordination and recurring stakeholder discussions,” Marciano said.
To identify high-risk patients, the team built a model that assigns patients an automated “risk score” for MRSA, said Marciano. Factors include recent hospitalization, conditions like diabetes, and transfer from high-risk settings like intensive care units.
If the risk score meets a threshold, nurses are alerted to order preventative measures, such as daily iodine nasal swabs or bathing with a powerful, broad-spectrum antiseptic. Nurses meet daily to discuss high-risk cases.
“It was a success from the beginning,” Marciano said of the process.
The team built the risk score into the electronic health record Epic, which recently highlighted the achievement.
With the new process in place, Sentara’s MRSA cases fell from 53 cases in 2022 to 29 cases in 2023. That trend has held, with 28 cases in 2025.
“Any time you prevent an infection, that’s huge,” said Tracey Odachowski, system director of infection prevention and control, another member of the team.
Sentara has continued to refine the tool while clinicians ensure MRSA prevention remains a routine part of care. Nurses also educate patients about MRSA to encourage compliance.
Other health systems have expressed interest in learning from Sentara’s approach.
“Other health systems have reached out,” said Odachowski. “We have shared how we built the tool so they can build one as well.”
The importance of preventing MRSA
The MRSA strain that is resistant to common antibiotics can require prolonged hospital stays and intensive treatment, including quarantine.
“MRSA is out there and the problem is it has mutated, so it is not easy to treat if someone gets an infection,” said Odachowski. "When it gets to the blood, it gets particularly harder to treat.”
MRSA infections are a widely recognized issue in healthcare, said Rollin Reeder, M.D., chief health information officer.
“Taking proactive measures like these to reduce MRSA infections has had a real impact on patient outcomes,” said Dr. Reeder. "It has been amazing to see this IT-enabled intervention translate into lives saved."
By: Clancy McGilligan