Impact of sensitisation programme on screening tests for latent tuberculosis infection among health-care workers: A questionnaire-based study

• Published in: Journal of Clinical and Scientific Research Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 97 - 100
• Main Authors: Haritsa, Kanthishree, Sangeetha, P, Lakshminarayana, S, Holla, Narayana, Prakash, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.04.2023; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Diagnosis; health-care workers; interferon-gamma release assay; knowledge; Medical personnel; Study and teaching; Surveys; Training; tuberculin skin test; Tuberculin test; Tuberculosis; India
• ISSN: 2277-5706; 2277-8357
• DOI: 10.4103/jcsr.jcsr_78_22

Background: Timely and accurate identification of people with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is essential for controlling Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Hence, it is important that health-care workers have the latest and adequate knowledge about the existing diagnostic modalities. Methods: In this prospective, questionnaire-based study, various health-care workers were asked to respond to a 25-item questionnaire before the sensitisation programme (workshop) regarding knowledge, procedure and interpretation of screening tests for LTBI (tuberculin skin test [TST] and interferon-gamma release assay [IGRA]). The same questionnaire was repeated on the completion of the workshop to assess its impact. Results: The mean baseline knowledge among technicians, nurses, postgraduates and interns was 42.9%, 42.1%, 51.9% and 53.6%, which improved significantly to 84.2%, 83.4%, 89.4% and 89.5%, respectively after the workshop. Statistically, a significant difference was observed between pre- and post-workshop proprtion of all health-care workers with respect to the knowledge of TST and IGRA ( P < 0.05). Conclusions: This questionnaire-based study highlights the importance of training various health-care workers on diagnostic modalities for LTBI since the current study findings revealed that training increased the knowledge scores of the participants significantly.