Risk assessment towards tuberculosis among hospital personnel: administrative control, risk exposure, use of protective barriers and microbial air quality.

A recent increase in the rate of tuberculosis among hospital personnel has led to a greater concern about the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in the hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the risk of tuberculosis infection among hospital personnel of a governmental hospital in Bangkok by applying hospital tuberculosis control strategies, including administrative control, risk exposure, use of protective barriers when in contact with TB patients, and microbial air quality in the studied wards. Fourteen members of the infection control committee (ICC) and 118 hospital personnel were interviewed regarding the infection control policy and its implementation. The history of TB exposure at work and the use of protective barriers when in contact with TB patients were recorded for the studied hospital personnel. Air samples in the studied wards were collected to investigate bacterial and fungal counts. The results reveal that all the studied ICC members and more than 85% of studied hospital personnel knew the infection control policy and attempted to implement it. However, 35.71, 37.50, 80.90,93.93, and 88.46% of personnel working in ER, OPD, ICU, female medical ward, and male medical ward, respectively, implemented the TB isolation policy. More than 80% of studied personnel had histories of exposure to TB patients, but only 52.73% (31.57% in OPD to 80.00% in ICU) used the appropriate barriers (N95) when in contact with TB patients. Air samples collected from the studied wards, except ICU, had high bacterial and fungal counts (> 500 cfu/m3). These findings show that hospital personnel working in the studied wards, except ICU, were at risk for tuberculosis infection. The hospital ICC should advertise the use of TB standard precautions to hospital personnel and provide a ventilation system for reducing the microbial counts in the air of the studied wards.