Each employee in a small community hospital is informed that he ...

[fox]

Each employee in a small community hospital is informed that he or she needs a tuberculin skin test and of the date that the test is due. The kitchen employees tell the nurse that they don't need the test and never had to have it before.
 
  The nurse should respond with:
  A) The test does not need to be given if you do not have client contact.
  B) Tuberculosis guidelines require testing of an entire healthcare setting.
  C) The test will not hurt; we won't fire you if you test positive.
  D) The tuberculosis guidelines state kitchen workers are at risk.

Question 2

As the occupational health nurse in a factory finds that five employees out of 30 have positive tuberculin skin test results. One employee on the 3-to-11 shift has been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB).
 
  She asks if this means that the whole factory has been exposed. The nurse replies that the probability of infection depends upon: (Select all that apply.)
  A) Concentration of infectious droplet nuclei in the air
  B) Duration of exposure to the infected person
  C) Proximity to the infected person
  D) The use of safety gloves by employees
  E) Physical exertion required in the job

[Mochi]

Answer to Question 1

Ans: B
Feedback:
The 2005 tuberculosis (TB) infection control guidelines emphasize actions to maintain momentum and expertise needed to avert another TB resurgence and to eliminate the lingering threat to healthcare personnel, which is mainly from clients or others with unsuspected and undiagnosed infectious TB disease. A sample recommendation is that the term tuberculin skin tests be used rather than purified protein derivative. The scope of settings in which the guidelines apply has been broadened to include laboratories and additional outclient and nontraditional healthcare settings. These recommendations also apply to an entire healthcare setting rather than to areas within a setting.

Answer to Question 2

Ans: A, B, C
Feedback:
The probability that a person who is exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis will become infected depends primarily on the concentration of infectious droplet nuclei in the air and the duration of exposure to a person with infectious TB disease. The closer the proximity and the longer the duration of exposure, the higher the risk of becoming infected. Close contacts are people who share the same air space in a household or other enclosed environment for a prolonged period (days or weeks, not minutes or hours) with a person with pulmonary TB disease. A suspected TB client is a person in whom a diagnosis of TB disease is being considered, whether anti-TB treatment has been started. People generally should not continue to be suspected of having TB for more than 3 months. The use of safety gloves and physical exertion on the job do not affect the probability of infection.

[fox]

Excellent

[kusterl]

TYSM