Hello again!
This week, I finished my practicum with the TB Control Program, a subset of the NC Department of Health and Human Services. My practicum was the last phase of a project called “Civil Surgeon Educational Survey and Evaluation on Latent TB Infection (LTBI) Diagnosis and Treatment.” The project focused on strengthening the partnership with the community to combat active tuberculosis by increasing treatment initiation and completion of latent tuberculosis infection for those at higher risk of LTBI.
A previous student completed the beginning phases of this project: she confirmed which civil surgeons in NC are active/practicing, created a database of civil surgeon contact information, and assessed current civil surgeon knowledge of TB, and gauged interest in a presentation focusing on the most updated information on TB and LTBI care. My part of the project was the creation of educational materials and the delivery of information to the civil surgeons.
There are about 65 practicing civil surgeons in North Carolina. To try to reach as many civil surgeons as possible, we held 3 webinar sessions over the course of the summer. We hoped that, even with summer schedules, this flexible format would appeal to most providers. Information about the webinars and how to sign-up was sent to each civil surgeon utilizing the previously created NC civil surgeon database.
Each webinar lasted about an hour and focused on the medical screening for tuberculosis among people applying for adjustment of status for US permanent residence. This process must be completed by a civil surgeon, and involves a medical exam, physical examination, and other diagnostic tests for TB/LTBI. I ran the presentation and was accompanied by nurse consultants for the TB Control program. The nurse consultants were able to answer any questions that the civil surgeons had in real time.
Feedback from the webinars was positive! Two civil surgeons noted that the presentation was a great overview of pertinent TB information. Although more than 12 civil surgeons expressed interest in attending one of the webinars, only 10 were able to attend (10 spread out between the 3 presentations). However, these 10 civil surgeons represented 6 different counties across the state. Additionally, when given a pre-webinar “knowledge-check” survey which tested baseline TB knowledge, the average score was 75%. After the webinar, when the same knowledge-check was administered, the average score increased to 96%.
Although it would have been wonderful to reach more civil surgeons, these providers are busy people providing direct care to patients! We were happy to reach as many as we did and strengthen the relationship between providers and the health department.
Thanks for reading!
– Audrey