Delay and discontinuity--a survey of TB patients' search of a diagnosis in a diversified health care system

Autor: K, Lönnroth, L M, Thuong, P D, Linh, V K, Diwan
Rok vydání: 1999
Předmět:
Zdroj: The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 3(11)
ISSN: 1027-3719
Popis: Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam.To describe delay to diagnosis; to compare diagnostic procedures and referral routines used by private and public health care providers; and to examine associations between contact with various types of providers and risk of delay to TB diagnosis.Cross-sectional survey of new patients in the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP). Retrospective assessment of health seeking and diagnostic procedures used by previously contacted health care providers.Four weeks after first symptom, 81% of patients had sought help outside the household. Four weeks after first health care contact, 47% had been diagnosed with TB. Private physicians used X-rays, sputum smears, and referrals significantly less often than public health care providers. Patients who had turned first to a private pharmacy, a private physician or a public hospital were significantly more likely to have a long provider delay than those who turned first to the NTP.Delay to diagnosis of TB in HCMC is due more to inability among health care providers to detect TB than to under-utilisation of health care services. Diagnostic procedures need to be improved and referral chains need to be strengthened in HCMC, particularly among private providers.
Databáze: OpenAIRE