The employee health service and infection control in US hospitals, 1976-1977. I. Screening procedures
Haley, R.W.; Emori, T.G.
JAMA 246(8): 844-847
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0098-7484 PMID: 7253159 Document Number: 174543
To assess the extent to which USA hospitals have established employee health services with infection control functions, information obtained in the SENIC Project (Study on the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control) from interviews with hospital officials and staff nurses in a representative sample of 433 hospitals was analyzed. Of the hospitals, 68% had a formal employee health service. The percentage routinely screening employees varied widely from the more common tests, such as the yearly chest roentgenogram (89%) and skin test (83%), to less common tests, including stool cultures (43%) and blood testing for hepatitis B (41%) and rubella (33%), 40% routinely obtained cultures of personnel. Although most hospitals appear to screen adequately, a sizeable minority either fail to employ recommended screening tests or continue unnecessary, expensive ones.