Discontinuation of contact precautions for patients no longer colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

To reduce the number of patients with known methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization who are repeatedly placed in isolation on hospital readmission, we screened patients who had no positive results for MRSA culture in the previous 6 months. Twenty-one (21%) of 98 patients were no longer colonized and were removed from contact precautions.