Hello nurse colleagues,

I’m working with one of our state partners on a TST train the trainer course.  In planning for this training, questions have come up about what other jurisdictions may be doing to extend TST training beyond public health nursing staff and to ensure TST skill transfer (e.g., certification?  Any sign-off requirements? Other?).  These are the questions of interest:

If you have organized or held a TST training of trainers:

1. What are you doing/have you done to facilitate TST training by your newly trained TST trainers?  Who are they responsible to train? How is it going?
2. Are your TST trainers training nurses outside of public health (e.g., community clinic or health center staff, hospital staff, nursing agencies)?
3. Do you have any policies or procedures that guide them in their role as TST trainers that you could share?
4. How are you handling QA around TST skills (placing, reading induration correctly, interpretation) especially if providing TST training to staff at community clinics, nursing agencies?  Any requirement for checking accuracy of TST reads (#negative and positive results)?  If so, how does it work in your setting?
5. Do you have state legislation/guidance allowing for non-licensed staff to perform TST once trained?  If so, are there limitations to the scope of what they are approved to do?  Does your TST trainer provide TST training to non-nurses – e.g., medical assistants, etc.?  

Thanks in advance for any experience you can share in this regard. 

Ann Raftery

ann.raftery@ucsf.edu