"Cough officer screening" improves detection of pulmonary tuberculosis in hospital in-patients.
BACKGROUND
Current tuberculosis (TB) reporting protocols are insufficient to achieve the goals established by the Stop TB partnership. Some countries have recommended implementation of active case finding program. We assessed the effect of Cough Officer Screening (an active screening system) on the rate of TB detection and health care system delays over the course of four years.


METHODS
Patients who were hospitalized at the Changhua Christian Hospital (Changhua, Taiwan) were enrolled from September 2004 to July 2006 (Stage I) and August 2006 to August 2008 (Stage II). Stage II was implemented after a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle analysis indicated that we should exclude ICU and paediatric patients.


RESULTS
In Stage I, our COS system alerted physicians to 19,836 patients, and 7,998 were examined. 184 of these 7,998 patients (2.3%) had TB. Among these 184 patients, 142 (77.2%) were examined for TB before COS alarming and 42 were diagnosed after COS alarming. In Stage II, a total of 11,323 patients were alerted by the COS system. Among them, 6,221 patients were examined by physicians, and 125 of these patients (2.0%) had TB. Among these 125 patients, 113 (90.4%) were examined for TB before COS alarming and 12 were diagnosed after COS alarming. The median time from COS alarm to clinical action was significantly less (p = 0.041) for Stage I (1 day; range: 0-16 days) than for Stage II (2 days; range: 0-10 days).


CONCLUSIONS
Our COS system improves detection of TB by reducing the delay from infection to diagnosis. Modifications of scope may be needed to improve cost-effectiveness.
Lin
Ching-Hsiung
CH
Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.
Tsai
Cheng-Hung
CH
Liu
Chun-Eng
CE
Huang
Mei-Li
ML
Chang
Shu-Chen
SC
Wen
Jen-Ho
JH
Chai
Woei-Horng
WH
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003371:Cough / Q000209:etiology*; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017146:Models, Organizational; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013183:Sputum / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D013624:Taiwan; D013997:Time Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*
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