Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-014-0547-7
Title: A retrospective review of a tertiary Hospital's isolation and de-isolation policy for suspected pulmonary tuberculosis
Authors: Kalimuddin, S 
Tan, J.M.M 
Tan, B.H 
Low, J.G.H 
Keywords: adult
aged
Article
clinical protocol
controlled study
female
health care cost
health care policy
health care quality
hospitalization
human
infection control
infection prevention
lung tuberculosis
major clinical study
male
patient assessment
retrospective study
tertiary health care
treatment duration
adolescent
cross infection
hospital discharge
middle aged
organization and management
patient care
policy
tertiary care center
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary
very elderly
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cross Infection
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Organizational Policy
Patient Discharge
Patient Isolation
Retrospective Studies
Tertiary Care Centers
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary
Issue Date: 2014
Citation: Kalimuddin, S, Tan, J.M.M, Tan, B.H, Low, J.G.H (2014). A retrospective review of a tertiary Hospital's isolation and de-isolation policy for suspected pulmonary tuberculosis. BMC Infectious Diseases 14 (1) : 547. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-014-0547-7
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International
Abstract: Background: Effective protocols for the isolation and de-isolation of patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are essential determinants of health-care costs. Early de-isolation needs to be balanced with the need to prevent nosocomial transmission of PTB. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficiency of our hospital's current protocol for isolating and de-isolating patients with suspected PTB, in particular assessing the timeliness to de-isolation of patients with AFB smear negative respiratory samples.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 121 patients with suspected PTB who were admitted to our hospital's isolation ward. We analyzed the time spent in isolation, the total number of respiratory samples that were collected for each patient and the time taken from collection of the first respiratory sample to release of the result of third respiratory sample for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear. We also calculated the direct cost of isolation for each patient.Results: The mean and median number of AFB smears for each patient was three. Thirty percent of patients had four or more AFB smears taken and 20% were de-isolated before the results of three negative AFB smears were obtained. The mean duration of isolation was significantly shorter in patients who had fewer than three negative AFB smears compared to those who had three or more negative AFB smears (three days vs. five days, p <0.01). The mean cost in patients who were de-isolated before three negative smears were obtained was USD 947 compared to USD 1,636 in those were only de-isolated after three negative AFB smears (p <0.01).Conclusions: Our study suggests that our institution's current infection control policy for the isolation of patients with suspected PTB is fairly satisfactory, but may need to be tightened further to prevent true cases of PTB being de-isolated prematurely. However, there may be instances when patients could potentially be de-isolated more quickly without risk to others, thus saving on the use of limited resources and costs to patients. © 2014 Kalimuddin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Source Title: BMC Infectious Diseases
URI: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/181481
ISSN: 14712334
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-014-0547-7
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International
Appears in Collections:Elements
Staff Publications

Show full item record
Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormatAccess SettingsVersion 
10_1186_s12879-014-0547-7.pdf386.35 kBAdobe PDF

OPEN

NoneView/Download

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons