All nurses are likely to encounter methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at some time in their career, and they are also likely to observe that approaches to containing it vary from hospital to hospital and within different care settings. This Learning Unit aims to explore these apparent contradictions, and identify the elements of practice common to all care settings. The associated television component makes clear that the needs of the patient are central to all approaches to tackling MRSA. The themes of this workbook are based on the settings in which care is given. The settings are important as predictors of the acquisition and spread of MRSA, because they indicate the vulnerability of the patients within them, and the kind of treatment and care the patients are likely to receive. Susceptibility to MRSA is linked to surgery, to the use of invasive devices and to the immune state of the patient. The physical environment, the fixtures and fittings, furniture and equipment, are seldom implicated in the spread of MRSA. MRSA lives on skin, and it is skin that helps it to spread, particularly on the hands of healthcare workers. The focus of this workbook is on the simple, everyday practices which interrupt this method of spread. This Unit is relevant to the UKCC Professional Development Categories: Care enhancement and Reducing risk.