What it means
A penicillin-type antibiotican-tee-by-OT-ikA drug that kills bacteria or stops them from growing.anti- againstbi/o life-ic relating toFull entry made in the 1950s to treat staph infections that ordinary penicillin could no longer kill. Staph bacteria soon became resistant to it as well, and it has since been replaced by related drugs. Today nurses meet the word almost only in MRSAMUR-suh, or said as lettersMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a staph bacterium that many common antibiotics cannot kill.Full entry , methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: staph that drugs of the methicillin family cannot kill.
For the nurse
A lab report that says "methicillin-resistant" means the organism is MRSA: follow the facility's contact precautions and tell the provider, because the usual first-choice antibiotics will not work.
Related terms
MRSA
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a staph bacterium that many common antibiotics cannot kill.
antibiotic
A drug that kills bacteria or stops them from growing.