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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Elaine E. Conley, RN, MPH, Office of the Director, Alameda County Public Health Department, 1000 Broadway, Suite 500, Oakland, CA 94607, 510-208-5948, econley@co.alameda.ca.us
Tuberculosis programs throughout the Country are struggling with developing staffing standards. There is no standardized way of determining how many nurses are required to do TB control. On face value this may appear to be a very simple computation, but in reality it is not. Determination of staffing levels for TB programs is compounded by many issues. Experience shows, however, that even when administrators and policy makers understand the multiple factors required for good TB control they still continue to question the amount of staffing required. The National TB Controllers Association and the National TB Nurse Consultant Coalition recognized this as a major concern and in 1999 created a joint staffing Standards Committee to develop a methodology to determine staffing standards for TB control.
The Committee is pleased to present this work. The methodologies and tools developed by this national committee captures the nature of the work and translates it into a staffing standard that definitively defines the number of staff required to do all aspects of the work.
In summary this is an exciting project that has national significance. These tools will assist in determining staffing needs as well as standardizing the level of care provided for TB patients, contacts and suspects.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation participants will be able to
Keywords: Public Health Nursing, Tuberculosis
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.