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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