World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in India, New Delhi, India.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 13;8(8):e71119. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071119. eCollection 2013.
Private medical practitioners in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, India.
To evaluate self-reported TB diagnostic and treatment practices amongst private medical practitioners against benchmark practices articulated in the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), and factors associated with compliance with ISTC.
Cross- sectional survey using semi-structured interviews.
Of 296 randomly selected private practitioners, 201 (68%) were assessed for compliance to ISTC diagnostic and treatment standards in TB management. Only 11 (6%) followed a combination of 6 diagnostic standards together and only 1 followed a combination of all seven treatment standards together. There were 28 (14%) private practitioners who complied with a combination of three core ISTC (cough for tuberculosis suspects, sputum smear examination and use of standardized treatment). Higher ISTC compliance was associated with caring for more than 20 TB patients annually, prior sensitization to TB control guidelines, and practice of alternate systems of medicine.
Few private practitioners in Visakhapatnam, India reported TB diagnostic and treatment practices that met ISTC. Better engagement of the private sector is urgently required to improve TB management practices and to prevent diagnostic delay and drug resistance.
印度安得拉邦维沙卡帕特南地区的私人执业医生。
评估私人执业医生自我报告的结核病诊断和治疗实践是否符合结核病关怀国际标准（ISTC）中规定的基准实践，并确定与 ISTC 遵从性相关的因素。
使用半结构式访谈进行横断面调查。
在随机选择的 296 名私人从业者中，有 201 名（68%）评估了其在结核病管理中遵守 ISTC 诊断和治疗标准的情况。只有 11 名（6%）遵循了 6 项联合诊断标准，只有 1 名遵循了所有 7 项联合治疗标准。有 28 名（14%）私人从业者遵守了 ISTC 的三项核心标准（对结核疑似患者进行咳嗽检查、进行痰涂片检查和使用标准化治疗）。较高的 ISTC 遵从性与每年治疗超过 20 例结核病患者、对结核病控制指南的预先敏感性以及替代医学实践有关。
印度维沙卡帕特南的少数私人从业者报告的结核病诊断和治疗实践符合 ISTC。迫切需要更好地参与私营部门，以改善结核病管理实践，防止诊断延误和耐药性的发生。
