I recently had a patient admitted to my unit, a thin 50-ish female with known history of COPD, who was admitted with increasing SOB over the last couple of weeks. She reports that she has been coughing up mostly yellow sputum for about 2 weeks, and has had chills and night sweats. Upon getting further information, she tells the nurse that she had a POSITIVE TB SKIN TEST 3 months ago, and because of her CHEST X-RAY being "QUESTIONABLE," the doc started her on INH. Her daughter reports she "coughs her head off," and has gotten worse over the last several months.
So do you isolate her or not????
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