PMID: 2509550Oct 1, 1989Paper

Annual tuberculin skin testing of employees at a university hospital: a cost-benefit analysis

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology : the Official Journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
I RaadN Howell

Abstract

The usefulness of routine annual tuberculin skin testing (purified protein derivative [PPD]) of hospital employees has been questioned. Between 1984 and the end of 1987 the PPD conversion rates of hospital employees at a university and psychiatric hospital in North Florida were compared. The number of employees in both hospitals were almost equal and compliance with the annual testing was more than 95%. In the psychiatric hospital tuberculosis screening of patients was practiced on admission and annually thereafter. Although no unsuspected smear-positive tuberculosis patients were diagnosed in the psychiatric hospital as compared to four in the university hospital, the annual conversion rates of employees were 0.42% and 0.13%, respectively (p greater than 0.001). However, the ratios of these conversion rates to the incidence of tuberculosis in the counties where these hospitals are located respectively were similar (20.0 vs 24.3, p = 0.7). The community seems be the major source of the PPD conversion. At the university hospital more than +70,000 was spent on the annual PPD testing to discover 15 converters; nine had no or minimal contact with patients and only two complied with isoniazid (INH) prophylaxis. Annual PPD testing is...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 12, 1995·The New England Journal of Medicine·D MenziesM Fitzgerald
Aug 10, 1999·The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal·S KellermanW Jarvis
May 25, 1999·Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine·K M HallakA V Neale
Jul 4, 2001·American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine·T F Jones, W Schaffner
Apr 6, 2002·American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine·Christina GreenawayUNKNOWN Canadian Collaborative Group in nosocomial Transmission of Tuberculosis
Jun 1, 1995·American Journal of Public Health·N Adhikari, R Menzies
Jan 24, 2015·Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiología clínica·Xavier Martinez-LacasaEva Cuchi
Feb 1, 1992·American Journal of Infection Control·S A Halperin, J M Langley
Jun 1, 1997·Infectious Disease Clinics of North America·S T Cookson, W R Jarvis

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