Abstract :
ISSUE: Greater than four hundred acid fast bacillus smears are reported annually in this 1200 bed acute care university teaching hospital. Final results may take up to 12 weeks to be reported. With this large number of pending cases ongoing, it was not only difficult but logistically challenging to track final results. An opportunity existed to improve the tracking of acid-fast bacillus (AFB) positive smears and cultures awaiting the final results. This was important in early identification of patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and expedited required reporting to the health department.
PROJECT: A detailed spreadsheet was designed for easy identification regarding the status of AFB results and provided easy ability to sort multiple variables. The spreadsheet included data points for patient name, medical record number, unit, actual/suspect case, data reported to the health department and final results. The spreadsheet was color coded for rapid status identification: Yellow-smear/culture pending; Green-smear/culture final atypical TB or other; Red- Mycobacterium Tuberculosis identified. If the patient is reported to the health department, a hyper link is attached to the reporting form. Additional comments, communication with the health department and other important information are available in a pop-up message linked to the patient line listing.
RESULTS: The development of this spreadsheet has provided the information available on the patient in an organized, useful format. The ability to sort by multiple variables provides identification of incomplete information as well as potential trends.
LESSONS LEARNED: A well designed spreadsheet is a useful tool for surveillance line listings that require a high degree of flexibility and rapid analysis.
