Beginning March 1, 2005, we improved the quality of
AFB smear testing by increasing the number of laboratory
workers and using barcodes for receiving, labelling,
and registering specimens. Two experienced technicians
were dedicated to performing digestion/decontamination/
staining and inoculation in the biosafety level
3 laboratory. We also implemented changes in SOPs for
processing specimens, by means of fluorescence staining,
the traditional Ziehl-Neelson procedure to confirm
the results, and mycobacterial growth indicator tubes.
These improvements allowed our hospital to achieve
the CDC goal of reporting AFB smear results within 24
hours. In June 14, 2005,we applied an automatic mobile
phone SMS to provide real-time notification alerts of
critical values and microbiology reports, including
positive AFB results and identification of M tuberculosis
complex from any specimen.