DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i09.031

Pages: 3326-3329

The objective of the present study is to study the effectiveness of reducing the screening criteria of chest symptoms from 3 weeks to 2 weeks and microscopic diagnosis from 3 smears to 2 smears. The present cross sectional study was conducted in Kamineni medical college, Narketpally from 2008 to 2011. All the patients with complaints of cough more than two weeks were included in the study and diagnosed by three and two sputum smear samples. There was increased yield of 36% in patients who were screened with cough more than 2 weeks duration compared to those of 3 weeks duration. Also the yield of sputum positivity with first smear was 82.6%, second sample was 100% and there was no added benefit of examining third sputum sample. Early detection of sputum positivity is done by screening all patients with cough more than 2 weeks rather than waiting for 3 weeks. And doing two smears ensures quality of sputum microscopy which is cost effective and reduced work load.