Creator

Kimberly Senn

First Advisor

McNeill, Jeanette

Date Created

5-2018

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a treatable and preventable disease; however, tuberculosis continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the globe. Per the World Health Organization (2016), tuberculosis (TB) disease was responsible for 10.4 million illnesses and 1.8 million deaths in 2015. Strategic plans by public health entities are continually under development at the global, national, and state levels to utilize innovative methods for identifying, treating, and preventing transmission of TB. Newer testing technologies and recommendations, are available for screening patients at risk for developing TB disease, creating an opportunity for development of a new tuberculosis screening and testing clinical protocol The purpose of this project was to develop a point-of-care clinical protocol that would assist public health workers and primary care providers with screening and testing for tuberculosis. An online survey was developed to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and evidence-based content of the protocol. The protocol and survey were sent to 229 subject-matter experts for review and survey feedback. There were 25 responses to the online survey. Overall, 79.6% of the participants thought the protocol was effective, 76.5% agreed it was efficient, and 85.2% stated it was evidence-based. Although the response rate was low, respondents represented a variety of health disciplines, were experienced in TB screening, and provided specific feedback. The point-of-care evidence-based screening and testing protocol has potential to provide effective and efficient guidance in TB screening in public health, community health, and primary care clinics.

Keywords

Interferon gamma release assay; Latent tuberculosis infection; Tuberculosis testing; Tuberculosis screening

Extent

89 pages

Local Identifiers

SennCapstone2018

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

SennApproval.png (915 kB)

Share

COinS