Special report. TB and health care workers: the challenge for hospitals and their safety directors.
New federal regulations seeking to prevent tubercular infection of health care workers have created conflicts between unions and hospital administrators over the best and cheapest methods of reducing the threat. Though there has been dispute over the particulars, there has been little argument that some steps must be taken, particularly in urban areas, to control the spread of a disease that has rebounded in new and deadly forms in recent years. Most agree that one of the most effective ways to avoid infection is to train employees to identify new hospital arrivals who are likely to have active cases of TB.
D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D007750:Labor Unions; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000592:standards; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D012134:Respiratory Protective Devices / Q000592:standards; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D014481:United States; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration