Tuberc Respir Dis.  1980 Jun;27(2):59-63. 10.4046/trd.1980.27.2.59.

Evaluation of Microscopists on Sputum Examinations at Urban Health Centres

• KMID: 2528884
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1980.27.2.59

Abstract

An evaluation of reading ability of the urban health centre microscopists was made in order to stress the good microscopic examination of sputum specimen at health centre for both case-finding and case-management. 1) Ten (10) sputum smears consisting of seven(7) positive and three(3) negative slides for the study were provided using the Wire-Ioop and Ziehl-Neelsen technique. The reading ability of twelve (12) Iicensed microscopists was assessed using the prepared slides at their health centres under normal working condition. Results obtained in the study were 2.4% of false negative and 2.8% of false positive rates. 2) 24, 286 smears examined by the microscopists had been sent to the Korean Institute of Tuberculosis for re-examination during the period of evaluation in 1977. A toral of 30 cases or 1.9% among 1,611 randomly selected specimens was detected as false negative misread by the microscopists in 1977. 3.0% of false positive and 2.5% of false negative rates shown in 1976 among 6,873 slides were dropped to 0% and 1.9% respectively. Test results revealed a marked improvement of reading ability compared with previous assessment results in 1976. Not only in-service training for sputum microscopy was provided to correct their performance in order to avoid making such errors but 'also the results of the re-exam in ed slides were notified to the respective health centres for correction. In conclusion, 1) Initial and refresher training are most essential in the improvement of the efficiency and accuracy of the microscopists. 2) Inspection activitis of the stored slides examined by the workers are also emphasized according to Nationa TB Control Manual. 3) Fluorescence microscopy other than conventional Ziehl- Neelsen is recommended for sputum clirect smsar examination depending upon the workload at the health centre levels in Seoul.