I contacted the Oregon state TB guru nurse , here is what she sent:
Hi Elizabeth,
I’ve attached the relevant pages from the CDC Guidelines for Preventing the Transmission of MTB in Health Care Settings, 2005
http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/guidelines/infectioncontrol.htm
Our OARs require facilities follow the guideline: http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/CommunicableDisease/Tuberculosis/Pages/oars.aspx
Given this:
1- If you are a medium risk facility still conducting annual HCW TB testing you should keep data on the number of conversions you have per year (that is employees who were baseline negative and later positive at annual testing). If it is above the expected, you would then need to conduct an investigation to determine why.
2- If you are a low risk facility and do not conduct annual HCW TB testing you would not have to keep aggregate data on the number of positive tests because you will not be tracking conversions.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Also, would you like to be added to our email list? It’s for ICPs and employee health nurses.
Heidi Behm, RN, MPH
TB Controller, Oregon Health Authority
Phone: 971-673-0169
Fax: 971-673-0178
Beth
Beth Colbert Moline, MSN, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner, Occupational Medicine
National Certified Medical Examiner
WIllamette Valley Medical Center
(503) 435 6586 FAX (503) 435-6555
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From: MCOH-EH [mailto:mcoh-eh-bounces@mylist.net] On Behalf Of Diane Shaw
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 8:26 AM
To: mcoh-eh@mylist.net
Subject: [MCOH-EH] Is keeping a log of positive TB screens still necessary?
Our TB incidence is very low and we now only do TB screening upon hire and post-exposure. Is it necessary still keep a log of the positive TB screens? Is there a regulation for this? I can’t see the purpose of the log, which could easily track yearly conversions, if we don’t do annual screenings anymore.
Thoughts?
Diane M. Shaw, RN, CIC
Tuality Healthcare
Employee Health Services
335 S.E. 8th Ave
Hillsboro, OR 97123
Phone: 503.681.1444
Fax: 503.681.4170
Tues.-Fri. 0730-1700 hours
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