Ambulatory care settings include locations where health services are provided to patients who are not admitted to inpatient hospital units. This includes, but is not limited to, outpatient diagnostic and treatment facilities (e.g., diagnostic imaging, phlebotomy sites, pulmonary function laboratories, TB treatment facilities), community health centers or clinics, physician offices and offices of allied health professionals (e.g., physiotherapists).25,45
Good practice statements
-
If possible, non-urgent assessments of people with, or being evaluated for, respiratory TB should be postponed until no longer infectious.
-
If a visit cannot be postponed, it should be scheduled at the end of the day to minimize exposure to others and, when possible, staff should be alerted of these visits to allow for prompt use of airborne precautions.
-
The patient should be provided with a medical mask before arrival or immediately upon arrival to be worn until an airborne infection isolation room becomes available. If an airborne infection isolation room is unavailable, the patient should be temporarily assessed or treated in a single room with the door closed, away from vulnerable patients, and transferred as soon as medically feasible to a facility with airborne infection isolation rooms if admission is required.
Switch To: Français