J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2021;32(2):830-842. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2021.0108.
Malaria is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in Uganda. Short-term medical missions (STMMs) to address unmet medical needs in lower-resource settings are increasingly common. Th is study evaluates correlations between patient and clinician variables and accurate malaria diagnosis by providers on STMMs to Uganda. We surveyed 18 U.S. providers and performed a retrospective chart review of 246 patients seen by those providers on STMMs in Uganda between 2016 to 2017. All providers recorded their clinical level of suspicion for patients who met inclusion criteria, following which a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was performed. Fift y-four percent of the patients tested positive for malaria. Level of provider accuracy ranged widely from 30.0% to 95.5% correct. Our fi ndings reaffirm that signs and symptoms of malaria are too nonspecifi c to be used alone without diagnostic testing by STMM providers. Pre-departure STMM training on malaria diagnosis is a necessity.
疟疾是乌干达十大主要死因之一。短期医疗任务（STMM）越来越多地出现在资源较少的环境中，以满足未满足的医疗需求。本研究评估了患者和临床医生变量之间的相关性，以及 STMM 向乌干达提供疟疾诊断的准确性。我们调查了 18 名美国医生，并对 2016 年至 2017 年间在乌干达进行 STMM 的 246 名患者的病历进行了回顾性分析。所有医生都记录了符合纳入标准的患者的临床怀疑程度，随后进行了快速诊断测试（RDT）。有 54%的患者检测出疟疾阳性。提供者的准确性水平从 30.0%到 95.5%不等。我们的研究结果再次证实，疟疾的症状和体征过于非特异性，不能单独使用，而无需 STMM 提供者进行诊断测试。出发前的疟疾诊断 STMM 培训是必要的。
