Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109235

Pia D.M. MacDonald, PhD, MPH¹, Michelle R. Torok, MPH¹, Amy L. Nelson, PhD, MPH², and Martha Salyers, MD, MPH³. (1) Department of Epidemiology / North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165, (2) North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165, 919-843-5561, apickard@email.unc.edu, (3) Public Health Regional Surveillance Team Six, 35 Woodfin St, Asheville, NC 28801

Background: North Carolina is prioritizing strengthening disease surveillance and response activities, including foodborne surveillance from physician and laboratory reporting. Accurate diagnosis of most foodborne illnesses, which present primarily as acute diarrheal illness (ADI), requires laboratory diagnostic testing. Methods: We surveyed healthcare practitioners in western North Carolina about their knowledge of foodborne disease, foodborne disease testing practices, and patient compliance with requests for clinical specimens. Results; 319 of 1442 healthcare workers in specialties likely to diagnose ADI participated in the survey (22% response rate). 34% were neutral or disagreed that they were comfortable with their knowledge of foodborne illness, and 32% were neutral or disagreed that they were confident about diagnosing and treating foodborne illness. 75% of healthcare workers (212/283) requested a stool sample from <25% of ADI patients in the last year; 9% reported that they had never requested a stool sample from patients with ADI. 43% of healthcare workers (123/284) ordered a bacterial stool culture test from the last outpatient they saw with ADI. 83% of patients (102/123) provided a specimen for culture when requested, and 21% of these tested positive for pathogenic enteric bacteria. Conclusion: Lack of confidence among healthcare workers diagnosing foodborne diseases could contribute to low rates of requesting stool specimens for diagnostic culture, and suggests that clinicians may benefit from provider training. With high patient compliance and progress in electronic laboratory reporting systems, appropriately increasing clinicians' requests for testing of stool specimens could have a large impact on foodborne disease reporting in North Carolina.

Learning Objectives: Learning objectives

• Describe health care practitioner testing practices for foodborne diseases in western North Carolina
• Indicate what education would be useful for health care practitioners to improve testing practices for foodborne diseases
• Recognize importance of requesting stool specimens for diagnostic culture if foodborne diseases are suspected

Keywords: Health Care Workers, Practice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation