VA Health Care: Tuberculosis Controls Receiving Greater Emphasis at VA
Medical Centers (Chapter Report, 11/09/93, GAO/HRD-94-5).

Lax infection-control practices and inadequate isolation rooms were
behind the tuberculosis outbreak at the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) medical center in East Orange, New Jersey.  Medical center staff
did not consistently use appropriate procedures for isolating suspected
or known tuberculosis patients.  The center lacked a comprehensive
employee-testing program to monitor the staff's exposure to active
tuberculosis.  Isolation rooms did not have proper airflow, and air
exhausted from these rooms may have contaminated other areas in the
medical center.  Since the outbreak, the center has made major
improvements in its infection-control practices, and VA plans to
construct 19 isolation rooms at the center.  VA has also tried to beef
up tuberculosis controls at its other medical centers and is giving
greater scrutiny to centers' tuberculosis-control programs and
practices.  According to a December 1992 VA survey, 10 medical centers
each had more than 20 cases of tuberculosis; six of the 10 also had the
highest numbers of AIDS cases.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  HRD-94-5
     TITLE:  VA Health Care: Tuberculosis Controls Receiving Greater 
             Emphasis at VA Medical Centers
      DATE:  11/09/93
   SUBJECT:  Tuberculosis
             Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
             Veterans hospitals
             Infectious diseases
             Health care services
             Respiratory diseases
             Hospital care services
             Health care facilities
             Internal controls
             Safety standards
IDENTIFIER:  AIDS
             VA Decentralized Hospital Computer Program
             
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